"Blue Train (Japan) Services slowly began to be eliminated as the Shinkansen (bullet-train) network spread and as regional airports opened in the 1980s and 1990s; then five Blue Train services were eliminated in 2008 and 2009, six more between 2010 and 2015, and the final services in 2016. Aside from luxury ""land cruise"" tourist trains such as ""Seven Stars in Kyushu"", this has left just two overnight express trains (the combined ""Sunrise Izumo"" and ""Sunrise Seto"") as the only trains in Japan with sleeping accommodation. The first Blue Train was known as the ""Asakaze"". It ran between Hakata and Tokyo"
"Shinkansen The , meaning ""new trunkline,"" but colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, in order to aid economic growth and development. Beyond long-distance travel, some sections around the largest metropolitan areas are used as a commuter rail network. It is operated by five Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen () in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-Shinkansen lines with a maximum"
"High-speed rail High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, new lines in excess of and existing lines in excess of are widely considered to be high-speed, with some extending the definition to include lower speeds in areas for which these speeds still represent significant improvements. The first such system began operations in Japan in 1964 and was widely known as the bullet train. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks"
"Japan has six main regional passenger railway companies, known collectively as Japan Railways Group or simply as JR. Four JR companies operate the ""bullet trains"" on very fast and frequent Shinkansen lines that link all the larger cities, including Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and many more. Many other cities are covered by a network of JR's ""limited express"" inter-city trains on , narrow gauge, lines. Major cities are covered by convenient train services of every one hour or more frequent. In addition to the JR Group, Japan has several major regional carriers such as the Kintetsu and"
"travel by rail is a popular or the only cheap way to travel long distances. One notable and growing long-distance train category is high-speed rail. Generally, high speed rail runs at speeds above and often operates on dedicated track that is surveyed and prepared to accommodate high speeds. Japan's Shinkansen popularly known as (""bullet-train"") commenced operation in 1964, and was the first successful example of a high speed passenger rail system. The fastest wheeled train running on rails is France's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, literally ""high speed train""), which achieved a speed of , twice the takeoff speed of"
"Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen line, opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka. Since 1987 it has been operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), prior to that by Japanese National Railways (JNR). It is one of the most heavily traveled high-speed rail routes in the world. The line was named a joint Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and IEEE Milestone by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2000. There are three types of trains on the line: from fastest to slowest, they are the ""Nozomi"", ""Hikari"","
"aircraft design during World War II. The popular English name ""bullet train"" is a literal translation of the Japanese term , a nickname given to the project while it was initially being discussed in the 1930s. The name stuck because of the original 0 Series Shinkansen's resemblance to a bullet and its high speed. The ""Shinkansen"" name was first formally used in 1940 for a proposed standard gauge passenger and freight line between Tokyo and Shimonoseki that would have used steam and electric locomotives with a top speed of . Over the next three years, the Ministry of Railways drew"
"and Shin-Ōsaka Station. Additionally it is responsible for the Chūō Shinkansen—a proposed maglev service between Tokyo Station (or Shinagawa Station) and Ōsaka Station (or Shin-Ōsaka Station), of which a short demonstration section has been built. Currently, the company is conducting demonstrations of its shinkansen to railway officials from different countries in the effort to market bullet train technology overseas. JR Central is Japan's most profitable and highest throughput high-speed-rail operator, carrying 138 million high-speed-rail passengers in 2009, considerably more than the world's largest airline. Japan recorded a total of 289 million high-speed-rail passengers in 2009. The JR Central Group consists"
"speed of , and of spur lines with Shinkansen services. The network presently links most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, and Hakodate on northern island of Hokkaido, with an extension to Sapporo under construction and scheduled to commence in March 2031. The maximum operating speed is (on a 387.5 km section of the Tōhoku Shinkansen). Test runs have reached for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world record for SCMaglev trains in April 2015. The original Tōkaidō Shinkansen, connecting Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, Japan’s three largest cities, is one of the world's busiest high-speed"
"TRANSPAC-1, the first trans-Pacific communications cable from Japan to Hawaii was also finished in June 1964 in time for these games. Before this, most communications from Japan to other countries were via shortwave. The start of operations for the first Japanese ""bullet train"" (the Tokaido Shinkansen) between Tokyo Station and Shin-Ōsaka Station was scheduled to coincide with the Olympic games. The first regularly scheduled train ran on 1 October 1964, just nine days before the opening of the games, transporting passengers in about four hours, and connecting the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. Some already-planned upgrades"
"highest annual patronage of any system worldwide, China's HSR network's patronage reached 1.7 billion and is now the world's highest. Notes: Cumulative ridership since October 1964 is over 5 billion passengers for the Tokaido Shinkansen Line alone and 10 billion passengers for Japan's entire shinkansen network. E5 series trains, capable of up to (initially limited to 300 km/h), were introduced on the Tōhoku Shinkansen in March 2011. Operation at the maximum speed of 320 km/h between and on this route commenced on 16 March 2013, and reduced the journey time to around 3 hours for trains from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori"
"Japanese National Railways , abbreviated or ""JNR"", was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 prefectures of Japan (Okinawa, the 47th prefecture, returned to the Japanese administration in 1972 but no JNR line existed in Okinawa). This figure expanded to in 1981 (excluding Shinkansen), but later reduced to as of March 31, 1987, the last day of JNR. JNR operated both passenger and freight services. Shinkansen, the world's first high-speed railway was debuted"
"the Shinkansen network extended to Hakodate following the dual-gauging of the Seikan Tunnel in 2016. SCMaglev reached its world record speeds of 581 km/h in 2003 and 603 km/h in 2015, while the much slower Linimo, debuted in 2005, is the first maglev metro in the world. The development of Japan since 1872 is analogous to that of its rail network. Over this period, railways became the most important means of transport – especially for the movement of passengers – and they retain this role in the larger cities today. With many suburban cities having been developed by railway operators,"
"Tsurugi (train) The is a high-speed ""shinkansen"" train service operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between and on the Hokuriku Shinkansen line in Japan. The shinkansen service was introduced on 14 March 2015, but the name was first used for a limited express overnight ""Blue Train"" sleeping car train service operated by Japanese National Railways (JNR) and later by JR West from 1961 until 1994. It was named after Mount Tsurugi. , 18 return ""Tsurugi"" services operate daily as a shuttle between and , calling at en route, typically taking 23 minutes. Trains operate at a maximum speed"
"British Rail Class 395 The Class 395 ""Javelin"" is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit (EMU) built for high-speed commuter services on High Speed 1 and elsewhere on the Integrated Kent Franchise. The six-car trains were built in Japan by Hitachi and operate at a maximum speed of under 25 kV AC overhead electrification on High Speed 1, and on 750 V DC third rail supply on conventional lines. The use of the high-speed trains as part of the transport infrastructure for the Olympic Park formed part of the original bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The service was named the"
"of 353 million in 2007) of any high-speed rail network until 2011, when the Chinese high-speed railway network surpassed it at 370 million passengers annually, reaching over 1.7 billion annual passengers in 2017, though the total cumulative passengers, at over 10 billion, is still larger. While the Shinkansen network has been expanding, Japan's declining population is expected to cause ridership to decline over time. The recent expansion in tourism has boosted ridership marginally. in Japanese means or , but the word is used to describe both the railway lines the trains run on and the trains themselves. In English, the"
"November 1997, from which date all six return services daily became ""Super Hakuto"" operating at a maximum speed of 130 km/h. All cars were made non-smoking from 1 June 2008, from which time smoking rooms were added to cars 1 and 5. Super Hakuto The is a limited express train service in Japan operated by the third-sector railway operator Chizu Express and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), which runs between and in Tottori Prefecture at a maximum speed of . Services are normally formed of five-car HOT7000 series sets, as shown below, with car 5 at the Kyoto end."
"The Bullet Train Tetsuo Okita is a former businessman who lost his manufacturing company to bankruptcy and separated from his wife and son a year earlier. Desperate to make ends meet and start over, he collaborates with activist Masaru Koga and his former employee Hiroshi Ōshiro in an elaborate plot to extort money from the government. ""Hikari 109"" is a high-speed 0 series bullet train carrying 1,500 passengers from Tokyo to Hakata. Shortly after the train's departure, railway security head Miyashita is notified by Okita that a bomb has been planted aboard and will explode if the train slows down"
"covers. Sets U007 and U009 include track condition monitoring equipment and are numbered in the 800-1000 series, while set U008 features overhead wire and signal monitoring equipment and is numbered in the 800-2000 series. Cars 2 and 5 are equipped with PS207K single-arm pantographs. 800 Series Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) on the Kyushu Shinkansen high-speed rail line. Built by Hitachi, the trains were introduced on the ""Tsubame"" services from March 2004. The 800 series has a maximum speed of in service, although its maximum design speed is ."
"Odakyū 3000 series SE Romancecar was inspired by the sleek and streamlined Bullets. In 1957, the Romancecar set a speed record for narrow-gauge trains of 145 km/h (90,1 mph). The Bullets are called ""ancestors of the TGV, Eurostar, AVE, ICE, Shinkansen, and the Acela Express"" (in English, the first Shinkansens were named Bullet Trains) and they are also strikingly similar to Germany's Fliegender Hamburger.. The Bullets' maximum speed was , though one reached 100 mph (160 km/h) while testing extended-wheelbase trucks. The P&W was originally conceived to be a Class I railroad which would compete for east-west traffic with the"
"Gauge Change Train The Gauge Change Train (GCT) or is the name given to a Japanese project started in 1994 to develop a high-speed train with variable gauge axles to allow inter-running between the Shinkansen network, and the narrow gauge regional rail network. Two three-car and one four-car ""GCT"" electric multiple unit (EMU) trains have been built for testing. The first train operated from 1998 until 2006, the second train operated from 2006 until 2014 and the third-generation train commenced testing in 2014, although testing is currently suspended due to technical issues with the bogies. The GCT was due to"
"start of the revised timetable on 4 December 2010. This set has a maximum speed of 140 km/h. 785 series The is an AC electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) on ""Super Kamui"" and ""Suzuran"" limited express services in Hokkaido, Japan, since 1990. The trains were built jointly by Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Cars 2 and 4 are each fitted with one N-PS785S single-arm pantograph. Cars 2 and 5 are each fitted with one N-PS785S single-arm pantograph. Cars 3 and 5 were each fitted with one N-PS721B scissors-type pantograph. 2-car set converted"
"on new tracks, and 200 km/h on older tracks. The first high-speed train in the world was the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in Japan, whose service started in 1964, with the maximum speed 210 km/h. In mainland China, ""high-speed"" is defined as at least 250 km/h by design, with the minimum speed 200 km/h during initial service. In the year 2008, the first Chinese high-speed railway, known as the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway, started its service. China claimed to have the largest high-speed rail system in the world in the year 2016. E-commerce was invented in 1979 by Michael Aldrich. The first internet"
"on three return ""Tanigawa"" services daily from 26 January 2013, operating at a maximum speed of 240 km/h. Tanigawa (train) The is a high-speed train service operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) on the Joetsu Shinkansen in Japan. The name ""Tanigawa"" (written as ""谷川"") was first introduced on 15 November 1982 for limited express services operating between Ueno in Tokyo and Minakami on the Jōetsu Line. From 1 October 1997, the name (written as ""たにがわ"") was used for the all-stations services between Tokyo and Echigo-Yuzawa on the Jōetsu Shinkansen, replacing the previous ""Toki"" all-stations services. During the"
"Virtually all rapid transit rolling stock, such as on the New York City Subway, the London Underground, and other subway systems, are multiple-units, usually EMUs. Most trains in the Netherlands and Japan are MUs, making them suitable for use in areas of high population density. Many high-speed rail trains are also multiple-units, such as the Japanese ""Shinkansen"" and the latest-generation German Intercity-Express ICE 3 high-speed trains. A new high-speed MU, the AGV, was unveiled by France's Alstom on February 5, 2008. It has a claimed service speed of 360 km/h (220 mph).India's ICF announced the country's first high speed engine-less"
"Kyoto (京都), Osaka (大阪), Kobe (神戸), and the suburbs of theirs. ""Kyūkō"" (急行) means express train. A 2-car Hankyu train was featured in the 1988 Japanese animated war drama Grave of the Fireflies. The 2011 film ""Hankyu Railway: a 15-Minute Miracle"" is set on the Hankyu Imazu line. Hankyu The Hankyu network serves 1,950,000 people every weekday and offers several types of express service with no extra charge. The head offices of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. and Hankyu Corporation are at 1-16-1, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka; the both companies' registered headquarters are at 1-1, Sakaemachi, Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. In 1907, the"
"like other major cities in Japan, Kyoto is well served by rail transportation systems operated by several different companies and organizations. The city's main gateway terminal, Kyoto Station, which is one of the most popular stations in the country, connects The Tōkaidō Shinkansen bullet train Line (see below) with five JR West lines, a Kintetsu line and a municipal subway line. The Keihan, the Hankyu, and other rail networks also offer frequent services within the city and to other cities and suburbs in the Kinki region. There is a Railway Heritage site in Kyoto, where visitors can experience the range"
"train cars so that the doors can close. On some Tokyo Metro lines, the first or last car of a train is reserved for women during peak hours. Tokyo Metro The , commonly known as Tokyo Metro, is a rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan. While it is not the only rapid transit system operating in Tokyo, it has the higher ridership among the two subway operators: in 2014, the Tokyo Metro had an average daily ridership of 6.84 million passengers, while the other system, the Toei Subway, had 2.85 million average daily rides. The company replaced the Teito Rapid"
"Tokyo Metro The , commonly known as Tokyo Metro, is a rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan. While it is not the only rapid transit system operating in Tokyo, it has the higher ridership among the two subway operators: in 2014, the Tokyo Metro had an average daily ridership of 6.84 million passengers, while the other system, the Toei Subway, had 2.85 million average daily rides. The company replaced the Teito Rapid Transit Authority (帝都高速度交通営団 Teito Kōsokudo Kōtsū Eidan), commonly known as Eidan or TRTA, on April 1, 2004. Tokyo Metro is operated by , a private company jointly owned"
"is 10% more energy efficient than human-controlled acceleration. Sendai Subway Namboku Line The is a rapid transit line of Sendai Subway in Sendai, Japan. It connects Izumi-Chūō Station in Izumi-ku, Sendai, with Tomizawa Station in Taihaku-ku, Sendai. This 1,067 mm gauge line is 14.8 km long has 17 stations and runs on 1,500 volt overhead line. The name ""Namboku"" means south-north, which is the general direction that the track runs. The Namboku Line was the world's first public train to use fuzzy logic to control its speed. This system (developed by Hitachi) accounts for the relative smoothness of the starts"
"integrated high-speed train services on the French TGV network. A fleet of 29 six-coach Shinkansen-derived high-speed 'A-trains' were built in Japan by Hitachi for this route. Known as , this was Hitachi's first train sale in Britain. The colour scheme for the high-speed trains is dark blue. The services are marketed as Southeastern Highspeed, and some of the trains are named after British Olympians such as Steve Redgrave and Ben Ainslie. At the same time there was the largest change to the timetable in the area in 40 years. With the fast trains now travelling over High Speed 1, the"
"West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. JR-West's highest-grossing line is the Sanyo Shinkansen high-speed rail line between Osaka and Fukuoka. The Sanyo Shinkansen alone accounts for about 40% of JR-West's passenger revenues. The company also operates Hakata Minami Line, a short commuter line with Shinkansen trains in Fukuoka. The ""Urban Network"" is JR-West's name for its commuter rail lines in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. These lines together comprise 610 km of track, have 245"
"High-speed rail in East Asia High-speed rail in East Asia refers to the high-speed rail systems of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, which together are approaching a length of . The Shanghai Maglev Train, a turnkey Transrapid maglev project, imported from Germany, is capable of an operational speed of 430 km/h and of a top speed of 501 km/h. It has connected Shanghai and Pudong International Airport since March, 2004. In April 2007, China opened several high speed rail lines between major cities, providing a network of 6,003 km, making it the world's largest high speed rail network. By"