The prototype of a next-generation bullet train on the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen line made a test run between Tokyo and Okayama stations on Wednesday.
The Series N700, developed jointly by the operators of the two lines – Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) and West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) – is designed to run along curves at 270 kilometers per hour, which is its maximum speed on the Tokaido section. It will be operated on the Sanyo section at 300 kph.
Current models that can run at a maximum speed of 270 kph on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line are forced to reduce speed on curves.
However, a newly developed automatic train control (ATC) system and air suspension between the carriages’ wheels and bodies allow the train to keep its maximum speed even when it travels along curves.
Specifically, the advanced ATC system is designed to sense a curve in advance and the air suspension leans the bodies of the carriages in response to the information from the ATC to offset the train’s centrifugal force, allowing it to keep a speed of 270 kph and helping it reduce vibrations.
The newly developed train will reduce the travel time between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka by only about five minutes from the current 2 1/2 hours.
However, JR Tokyo said the new model is far more comfortable than existing trains. “It feels like you’re in a building,” an official said, adding that the company is aiming to compete with cheap air flights on the Tokyo-Osaka route.
In recent years, Shinkansen operators have been keen to increase the speed of bullet trains. In 1997, JR West introduced the Series 500 that travels at a maximum speed of 300 kph on its Sanyo Shinkansen line. East Japan Railway Co. has recently produced a prototype of a “FASTECH” model that travels at 360 kph. (Mainichi)
The Shin-Kansen lines are only a fraction of Japan’s railroad network and operate on a different gauge from everything else. Freight service beyond intermodal movements has virtually vanished. The population density demands a passenger service that operates more like a rapid transit system so I don’t think that the Japanese experience will translate too well to the United States.
“The (railroad) annual losses continued growing year-on-year and by the late-1970s, had reached ¥1 trillion. They were generated both by the interest charges, as well as by operating losses from the freight sector, rural trunk and branch lines, and JNR bus and shipping operations. By 1987, the deficit totalled ¥25 trillion($70 billion), similar to the combined national debts of several developing countries.” – The Economist Magazine
Think pork barrel politics is bad here? The Japanese government is an example of pork barrel gone berserk. As a result of all the government’s debt and misguided economic policies to placate political interests, this what Japan got:
“The worst performance of any big economy in the last, half-century – industrial production plummeted 20%…” – The Economist. In the decade of the '90s Japan practically stood still and grew by about 10%. The US economy meanwhile grew by 35%.
As for the railroad’s contribution to mess, their annual losses continued growing year-on-year and by the late-1970s, had reached ¥1 trillion. They were generated both by the interest charges, as well as by operating losses from the freight sector, rural trunk and branch lines, and JNR bus and shipping operations. By 1987, the deficit totalled ¥25 trillion($70 billion), similar to the combined national debts of several developing countries.
The Japanese government is effectively broke, with a much
[quote]
QUOTE: Originally posted by eastside
“The (railroad) annual losses continued growing year-on-year and by the late-1970s, had reached ¥1 trillion. They were generated both by the interest charges, as well as by operating losses from the freight sector, rural trunk and branch lines, and JNR bus and shipping operations. By 1987, the deficit totalled ¥25 trillion($70 billion), similar to the combined national debts of several developing countries.” – The Economist Magazine
Think pork barrel politics is bad here? The Japanese government is an example of pork barrel gone berserk. As a result of all the government’s debt and misguided economic policies to placate political interests, this what Japan got:
“The worst performance of any big economy in the last, half-century – industrial production plummeted 20%…” – The Economist. In the decade of the '90s Japan practically stood still and grew by about 10%. The US economy meanwhile grew by 35%.
As for the railroad’s contribution to mess, their annual losses continued growing year-on-year and by the late-1970s, had reached ¥1 trillion. They were generated both by the interest charges, as well as by operating losses from the freight sector, rural trunk and branch lines, and JNR bus and shipping operations. By 1987, the deficit totalled ¥25 trillion($70 billion), similar to the combined national debts of several developing countries.
The Japanese government is effectively broke, with a much greater debt level, as a percent of GNP, than the US. Part of the reason for this was specifically the “privatization” of its railways in 1987 when (the railways became insolvent) the government assumed the current debt of ¥28 trillion, equivalent to approximately $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in Japan, or about 5% of the total national debt. That the railroads in the US could go bust and add 5% to the national debt would be just unimaginab
Japan has always been serious about their railroads. It is te lifeblood of their country (to bad I can’t say the same about America). In fact, people would rather take the train in Japan rather than plane or auto.
My brother has travelled on Japanese trains and says that while they’re good, they’re not infallible - he suffered one or two delays.
I dont know why they’re getting so excited about 300kmh running - we’ve got that in Britain now the first phase of the Chunnel Rail Link is open - and the new Spanish AVE trains go even faster.
However they are right to aim for higher speeds as experience in Britain and Europe shows that faster journey times between cities helps to re-generate economically depressed areas.
I agree with those who say the Japanese model wont work with the US. Like Britain, Japan is a small country with a high population density where cities are close enough to make rail viable. By contrast the USA has a much lower population density and except in the NE states and possibly California, cities are just too far apart.
As I’ve stated before , unprofitable does not necessarily mean uneconomic. Without studying Japanese railways further, I’d be unwilling to make a guess as to what part of their system is genuinely uneconomic and what part (I suspect most) may be unprofitable but brings wider economic benefits to the regions served.
Japan is an extremely mountainous country outside of the Kanto plain between Toyko and Osaka. Airports are difficult to build in most rural areas, roads are narrow, tight and twisty, so upgrading and maintaining the very complex rail systems first built before WW2 and before autos became a fixture in Japan, (thats a post WW2 thing) makes a great deal of sense. The travel time between driving and taking the train can be tremendous when slow roads, low driving speeds, and congestion is taken into consideration.
There is a shinkansen web site that has a table from the railway gazette with the worlds highest sceduled speeds. The Japanees come in at number 2 with a Nozomi from Hiroshima to Kokura timed at a start stop speed of 261.8 Kmph over a distance of 192 km. France is number 1 with an train timed at 263.3 kmph. Britain is 8th with 181.1 kmph and the USA 10th with 165.1 kmph. One caveat is that British and American trains run on “historic” track rather than a specialy built track secregated from other trains.
One reason Japan got such a debt load seems to be the fact that every government had big infrastructure projects going in the hope that it would give the economy the boost it would need to get back on the growth path.
I traveled to Japan in october 2000 and stayed there 4 weeks. We suffered no delays, quite a change from home here in the Netherlands. The country is indeed extremely mountainous. Cities join cities on the few plains and you can hardly see where one ends and the other starts. On my last day I traveled from Kyoto to Kansai airport (the one that was build in the sea) via Osaka and I think I saw open spaces about the size of 3 football fields along the railroad, total.
Moreover, it is expensive to park a car in the center of the cities. So Japanese railroads are mainly commuter in nature in the central Kanto area. And we all know that is very difficult to make a profit with commuter railroading.
There are, however, other benefits then strict profit and loss with a good passenger rail network. If, for instance, everybody who travels by train to Amsterdam would have to use a car then you would need a day just to get in and out of the city. No time to work or for pleasure…
Anybody familiar with rushhour in the Netherlands probably is glad that about 1 million people travel with NS every day instead of using a car.
Marc Immeker
In the case of the Eurostar, the London - Paris journey time is now down to 2 hours 40 minutes which is about an average speed of 120mph. More to the point its quicker than flying (city centre to city centre that is) so it now has the lion’s share of the market (over 2/3 thirds) between the two capitals.