The Shinkansen indicates the rail-bound system of transport at high speed in service with the Japan. Use of a network of dedicated lines and technologies the employed by Shinkansen, make that this last in 1964 at open the era railway high speed.

Business success (the course of the 100 million passengers is crossed in less than three years) pushed with quickly developing the network of Shinkansen lines, which nowadays connects more the big cities of the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū. The block speed also knew an increase while passing 210 km/h to 300 km/h.

JNR , (Railroads national Japanese), which exploited it during 20 years, until their privatization in a group of regional railway companies, group indicated by the name of Japan Railway.

the train at Taiwanese high speed is based on Shinkansen technology. -->

Denomination

The expression shinkansen (in Kanjis: 新幹線) literally means new broad outline , the trains circulating on the Shinkansen lines are officially called Super Express train . However the use retained Shinkansen to indicate at the same time the trains as well as the lines.

The English expression Bullet Train used only by the english-speaking, is a translation of the Japanese expression dangan ressha (弾丸列車), which was the name of the preliminary draft when it was studied in the years 1940.

The prefix shin (新) means new Japanese . Its presence in names of Gares (for example the Station Shin-Ōsaka) is thus not directly a recall of the name shinkansen , but simply the consequence of the need for new stations. In particular for technical reasons: Shinkansen uses a width of way different from the remainder of the Japanese network.

History

Japan was the first country to be obtained lines dedicated to the trains at high speed. Indeed, the preexistent network with English metric gauge track (spacing of 1067 mm), was adapted to the generally mountainous character of the country. Very sinuous to circumvent the obstacles of the relief, it did not make it possible to increase speeds of circulation.

More still than for the old lines, those of Shinkansen caused the construction of multiple works of art, with the image of the Tunnel S and others Viaduc S to cross the obstacles while preserving the most rectilinear possible trajectory.

The construction of the first section of Shinkansen, on the Tōkaidō between Tōkyō and Shin-Ōsaka, started in 1959. It will be necessary to wait on October 1st 1964, at the time of the Olympic Games of Tōkyō, to inaugurate the line.

The line gained an immediate success, the course of the hundred million travellers was crossed in less than three years, precisely the July 13rd 1967 and the billion in less than 12 years (1976). After 40 years of service (October 4th 2004), the number of travellers rises to 4,2 billion. As comparison, it took 23 years for the network TGV to reach the billion passengers.

Increasing speeds

The first electric oars of Shinkansen (series 0) circulated at a top speed of 210 km/h, it passed later to 220 km/h (in France the “Capitole” circulated to 200 km/h on short portions as from 1967). Some of these trains, with their typical shaped nose (strongly resembling the nose of the plane DC8) are always in service between Hakata and Shin-Ōsaka.

Many other types of trains were built thereafter, each one being characterized by a particular delivered form and one, as by performances in evolution without necessarily that the top speed of each new series exceeds that of the preceding series. With the opening of new lines and the introduction of new series of oars, practiced speeds rose gradually:

• on the Ligne Shinkansen Sanyo, the trains of the series 500 and N700 circulate at the speed of 300 km/h, which places them among the fastest trains of the worlds out of cruising speed, with TGV French, the Spanish Ave and ICE German.
• on the other lines, cruising speeds spread out from 240 to 275 km/h.

Exploitation

Conceived in the beginning to convey travellers and goods of day and night, the lines of Shinkansen transport finally only of the travellers and the network is closed midnight with 6:00 of the morning to leave room to maintenance. It still circulates some night trains in Japan on the historical network with narrow gauge railway.

With the difference in the network of the French TGV, Shinkansen, because of difference in spacing of the rails of the historical network, are prisoners of the new lines. This required besides very heavy additional infrastructures compared to the railway system high speed used in France, Germany, Belgium, etc: viaducts for urban insertion, new quays, new stations downtown full, etc

In addition to the intensity of its traffic, Shinkansen is characterized by:

• space offered to the travellers, always sitted in the direction of walk and laying out, whatever the class, of much of comfort,
• its great punctuality: in 2003, the average delay on arrival, compared to the schedule, amounted to 0,1 minute is 6 seconds. This average includes all the causes of technical, mechanical or human failures, on a whole of 160.000 people on the network. The preceding record which went back to 1997, was 0,3 minutes is 18 seconds. This great punctuality is one of the positive consequences owing to the fact that Shinkansen traverse ways which are reserved to them: they do not have to undergo the risks of the traffic of a traditional line (level crossings, accidents, etc).

Safety, in spite of the seisms

In 40 years of operation, Shinkansen transported 4,2 billion travellers without any accident.

The Séisme of the October 23rd 2004 caused the spectacular derailment, but without victim, of Shinkansen 200 which carried out the service Toki 231, circulating to 200 km/h on the Tōkyō-Niigata line, between the stations of Eichigoyusawa and Nagaoka.

It is the first time that a derailment occurred on the Shinkansen network since its opening in 1964. The Shinkansen lines are indeed connected to seismographs detecting the least movements of the ground and starting an emergency braking of rolling stock in the event of tremor. In this last case, the response time of the system (more precisely the distance covered between the order of emergency braking and the complete stopping of the oar) could not empécher the derailment, the line too passing close to the epicentre.

Future

Extensions of lines

Shinkansen Kyūshū de Kagoshima with Shin-Yatsushiro was brought into service in March 2004. Three additional extensions are programmed for a startup in 2013: Hakata - Shin-Yatsushiro, Nagano - Kanazawa, and Hachinohe - Shin-Aomori.

Longer-term projects aim extending the network towards Sapporo (by the Tunnel of Seikan) and Nagasaki, and at establishing a connection of Kanazawa towards Shin-Ōsaka. But none them will be probably completed before 2020.

Reduction of the noise

The reduction of the Bruit is currently a priority of the company ferrovières exploiting the shinkansen. For this purpose, new generations of oars are being studied or in test. At the time of their startup, the old oars, noisier, will be displaced.

Increase speeds

It is however envisaged on the one hand to make circulate new oars with 350km/h on the line San' yo after 2007 and on the other hand to make circulate to 360 km/h the oars FASTECH 360, currently tested on the line Tōhoku Shinkansen.

List lines of Shinkansen

Normal lines

• Shinkansen Tōkaidō (Tōkyō - Shin-Ōsaka)
• Shinkansen San' yo (Shin-Ōsaka - Hakata)
• Shinkansen Tōhoku (Tōkyō - Hachinohe)
• Shinkansen Jōetsu (Ōmiya - Niigata)
• Shinkansen Hokuriku or Shinkansen Nagano (Takasaki - Nagano)
• Shinkansen Kyūshū (Shin-Yatsushiro - Kagoshima-Chuo)

Other lines with normal way are used by trains of Shinkansen, but do not belong to the Shinkansen network as such:

• Line Hakata Minami (Hakata - Hakata-Minami), line of 8 km to join the deposit of Hakata, nonopen to the public
• Line Official reception Yuzawa (Echigo-Yuzawa - Official reception-Yuzawa) service road of the winter sports resort.

Lines with narrow gauge

Two Shinkansen lines (using old lines with metric gauge track) were also built. They are antennas of Hokuriku Shinkansen. They are called “Minis-Shinkansen” because the gauge is narrower:

• Shinkansen Yamagata (Fukushima - Shinjo)
• Shinkansen Akita (Morioka - Akita)

Lines in construction, or being studied

The following lines are in construction (situation in October 2004):

• Shinkansen Tōhoku (in construction, Hachinohe - Shin-Aomori)
• Shinkansen Hokuriku (in construction, Nagano - Toyama and Isurugi - Kanazawa)
• Shinkansen Kyūshū (in construction, Hakata - Shin-Yatsusiro)
• Shinkansen Chūō (Maglev, being studied)
• Line at high speed of Taiwan (in construction)

Because of the cost of the new lines, the Shinkansen network projected in the Sixties is not complete, but more the broad outlines are completed or in the course of completion.

The current policy envisages the end of the works in progress as well as the prolongation towards north but it is clear that certain branches will never be carried out. For example the line of Shikoku, which was to borrow the “Seto O Hashi” (bridge between Honshū and Shikoku) and the line having to serve Narita (International airport of Tōkyō).

List Shinkansen trains

Photographs

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