THE Shinkansen is 60 years old this month. The anniversary was marked on October 1 with a commemorative ceremony at Tokyo station. Central Japan Railway (JR Central) waved off the first train of the day at 06.00, six decades after the first passenger service ran on the Tokaido Shinkansen on October 1 1964.
Several railway officials, including JR Central president, Mr Shunsuke Niwa, and stationmaster, Mr Katsuyuki Wachi, attended the ceremony, along with a large crowd, as the high-speed train departed for Hakata in Fukuoka prefecture.
Speaking at the ceremony, Niwa was quoted by local media as expressing his admiration for what have become globally known as “bullet trains”: “As we look to the future, we aim to make the Tokaido Shinkansen even more beloved by everyone,” he said.
When the Tokaido Shinkansen entered regular service between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, just before the Tokyo Olympics, the high-speed line slashed the journey time between the two cities from 6h 30min to 4 hours. Today, high-speed trains operate at up to 285km/h, below their maximum design speed in order to minimise noise levels, with the fastest service taking 2h 21min to cover the 515km.
With 372 high-speed services timetabled to run each day, carrying on average 430,000 passengers, the Tokaido Shinkansen is Japan’s busiest transport corridor.
For more details on the evolution of the Japanese Shinkansen see IRJ’s October issue (pages 16-19).
