Shinkansen
Got a chance to go to Kyoto in Shinkansen. Shinkansen is the bullet train in Japan, one of the technological marvels in Japan. The first Shinkansen started in 1964. Shinkansen lines are wider than the other railway lines in Japan (except in a few cases) so that other trains cannot travel on Shinkansen lines and vice versa. Shinkansen is considered to be the safest train in the world because so far there is no accident involving Shinkansen. However, during the last major earthquake, the train got derailed for the first time though none was injured. That was a big issue in Japan and people were, at some point, discussing more of Shinkansen derailment than the earthquake! Oh! That earthquake caused even the Shinaknsen to derail-that was the status of Shinkansen in Japan. One of the major ambitions of kids in Japan is becoming a Shinkansen driver! Shinkansen is designed to stop immediately if an earthquake occurs in the vicinity of its travel. However the last earthquake in a place called Nagata was so close to the Shinkansen line that the auto stop did not work and the train got derailed!
Japanese are proud of their Shinkansen. They have the reason too. Though it is not the fastest train in the world (I think it may be the second or third, fastest being the French (or German?) trains-I shall verify-some websites say Shinkansen is having the highest speed- I am confused), it is the No. 1 with respect to efficiency, safety and punctuality. Some of the Shinkansens even attained speed of 300 km/hour though the average speed is around 260 km/hour. In 2003, the average late running of Shinkansen was around 1 min. and there were enquiries to find out the reason for that. For an Indian, where people will not be surprised even if the Trivandrum-Guwahati train running late by 24 hours, it is more than a surprise (However, Indian Railway system is also not that bad because with that much population and all accompanying difficulties, we are managing-still there are plenty of scopes for improvement and I am sure we will become No.1 once). Here detailed enquires will be conducted if the train stops 1m ahead of the designated stop point. Shinkansen is completely automatic-means stopping, starting, braking-everything is controlled automatically.
Shinkansen will take only 2 hours 20 minutes from Tokyo to Kyoto (more than 500 km). If we have such a train in Kerala, we can travel from one end to the other end of the state within 3 hours! May not be possible because Shinkansen has only two stops in its 500 km journey. If we have such a train in Kerala, still it will take at least 6 hours because each MLA will demand for stop at his own constituency. Further we will have regular strikes, hartals, bundhs etc. Shinkansen will be blocked for reasons such as unemployment in Antarctica!
I think there is no need to mention the interior of Shinkansen-spacious, more than enough leg room, classy toilets and even urinals for gents, in-train catering, and of course the famous and indispensable vending machines which are part and parcel of Japanese life! It is heard that some of the new trains, with its more aerodynamic design, has less space inside compared to the old ones. Still it may be ‘less’ only on comparison. You will not hear any noise of the train running while traveling. Somebody told me that a good portion of the Japanese research grant is spending for Shinkansen travel (joking). But Japanese are obsessed with Shinkansen and they are so proud of it. They may not be that interested in talking about yesterday’s earth quake, but you can see their enthusiasm when we start a discussion on Shinkansen. Whenever I am seeing a Shinkansen moving at around 260 km/hour speed, it is creating some sort of thrilling sensation in me-the same feeling when I was seeing Trivandrum-Madras Mail passing through Ettumanoor railway station at around 110 km/hour. The other local trains in Japan are not creating such a sensation in me mainly because of their design. They are just like long rectangular boxes whereas Shinkansen is having an excellent design with a pointed nose!
It will be a good exercise to compare the Amtrak in USA and Shinkansen in Japan. My friend Rishi knows well about the punctuality, speed and comfort of Amtrak in USA. I think if he travels in Shinkansen once, he will get a chance to revive his sweet memories of his Amtrak journey where the maximum speed is around 120 km/hour with no need to mention its safety, comfort and punctuality!
Here are some websites on bullet trains and Shinkansen. I am not sure whether some of the sites are updated or not. But you will get a basic knowledge of bullet trains from these sites.
http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/bullet.htm Shinkansen and other bullet trains around the world-I am not sure when this site is updated last.
http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/hstlist.htm Same.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3707934.stmhttp:/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3707934.stm BBC news on the 40th anniversary of Shinkansen in 2004.
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Japan/03/raynor/raynor.htm - History of Shinkansen.
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/shinkansen/ Get some technology of Shinkansen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_train - A good description on Shinkansen.
http://www.geocities.com/qubestrader/shinkansen.html Shinkansen photos.
http://www.atkielski.com/inlink.php?/PhotoGallery/Paris/General/TGVSmall.html
France’s Bullet Train.
These are website mentioning train speeds. http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/records.htm
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/world.htm
Based on this website, world’s fastest scheduled train service is credited to
Shinkansen!
To get more confused with train speeds, see this site: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/StefanSingh.shtml
As usual, Chinese are also in the fray, but the trains are of different type I think:
http://english.people.com.cn/200212/05/eng20021205_108005.shtml
So, that is my Shinkansen experience. If you visit Japan, make it a point to travel in Shinkansen at least once.
Here are some Shinkansen photos taken by me. My boss also helped me in taking some of the photographs after seeing my enthusiasm.
This is Shinkansen take off from the Kyoto Station........
Siamese Shinkansen!
I enjoyed the journey in the Shinkansen.
Japanese are proud of their Shinkansen. They have the reason too. Though it is not the fastest train in the world (I think it may be the second or third, fastest being the French (or German?) trains-I shall verify-some websites say Shinkansen is having the highest speed- I am confused), it is the No. 1 with respect to efficiency, safety and punctuality. Some of the Shinkansens even attained speed of 300 km/hour though the average speed is around 260 km/hour. In 2003, the average late running of Shinkansen was around 1 min. and there were enquiries to find out the reason for that. For an Indian, where people will not be surprised even if the Trivandrum-Guwahati train running late by 24 hours, it is more than a surprise (However, Indian Railway system is also not that bad because with that much population and all accompanying difficulties, we are managing-still there are plenty of scopes for improvement and I am sure we will become No.1 once). Here detailed enquires will be conducted if the train stops 1m ahead of the designated stop point. Shinkansen is completely automatic-means stopping, starting, braking-everything is controlled automatically.
Shinkansen will take only 2 hours 20 minutes from Tokyo to Kyoto (more than 500 km). If we have such a train in Kerala, we can travel from one end to the other end of the state within 3 hours! May not be possible because Shinkansen has only two stops in its 500 km journey. If we have such a train in Kerala, still it will take at least 6 hours because each MLA will demand for stop at his own constituency. Further we will have regular strikes, hartals, bundhs etc. Shinkansen will be blocked for reasons such as unemployment in Antarctica!
I think there is no need to mention the interior of Shinkansen-spacious, more than enough leg room, classy toilets and even urinals for gents, in-train catering, and of course the famous and indispensable vending machines which are part and parcel of Japanese life! It is heard that some of the new trains, with its more aerodynamic design, has less space inside compared to the old ones. Still it may be ‘less’ only on comparison. You will not hear any noise of the train running while traveling. Somebody told me that a good portion of the Japanese research grant is spending for Shinkansen travel (joking). But Japanese are obsessed with Shinkansen and they are so proud of it. They may not be that interested in talking about yesterday’s earth quake, but you can see their enthusiasm when we start a discussion on Shinkansen. Whenever I am seeing a Shinkansen moving at around 260 km/hour speed, it is creating some sort of thrilling sensation in me-the same feeling when I was seeing Trivandrum-Madras Mail passing through Ettumanoor railway station at around 110 km/hour. The other local trains in Japan are not creating such a sensation in me mainly because of their design. They are just like long rectangular boxes whereas Shinkansen is having an excellent design with a pointed nose!
It will be a good exercise to compare the Amtrak in USA and Shinkansen in Japan. My friend Rishi knows well about the punctuality, speed and comfort of Amtrak in USA. I think if he travels in Shinkansen once, he will get a chance to revive his sweet memories of his Amtrak journey where the maximum speed is around 120 km/hour with no need to mention its safety, comfort and punctuality!
Here are some websites on bullet trains and Shinkansen. I am not sure whether some of the sites are updated or not. But you will get a basic knowledge of bullet trains from these sites.
http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/bullet.htm Shinkansen and other bullet trains around the world-I am not sure when this site is updated last.
http://www.o-keating.com/hsr/hstlist.htm Same.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3707934.stmhttp:/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3707934.stm BBC news on the 40th anniversary of Shinkansen in 2004.
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/Japan/03/raynor/raynor.htm - History of Shinkansen.
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/shinkansen/ Get some technology of Shinkansen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_train - A good description on Shinkansen.
http://www.geocities.com/qubestrader/shinkansen.html Shinkansen photos.
http://www.atkielski.com/inlink.php?/PhotoGallery/Paris/General/TGVSmall.html
France’s Bullet Train.
These are website mentioning train speeds. http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/records.htm
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~dajf/byunbyun/speeds/world.htm
Based on this website, world’s fastest scheduled train service is credited to
Shinkansen!
To get more confused with train speeds, see this site: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/StefanSingh.shtml
As usual, Chinese are also in the fray, but the trains are of different type I think:
http://english.people.com.cn/200212/05/eng20021205_108005.shtml
So, that is my Shinkansen experience. If you visit Japan, make it a point to travel in Shinkansen at least once.
Here are some Shinkansen photos taken by me. My boss also helped me in taking some of the photographs after seeing my enthusiasm.
This is Shinkansen take off from the Kyoto Station........
Siamese Shinkansen!
I enjoyed the journey in the Shinkansen.
posted by Konnichiwwa at 10:39 AM
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