Shinkansen

The Shinkansen (Japanese: 新幹線; [ɕiŋkaꜜɰ̃seɴ] ⓘ, lit. 'new main line'), colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. The system was developed to provide connections between Tokyo and other regions of the country. In addition to long-distance services, some sections in and around the largest metropolitan areas are used for commuter travel.

The first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, opened shortly before the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the 552.6-kilometre (343.4 mi) route connects Tōkyō, Yokohama, Nagoya, and Ōsaka, the four largest cities in Japan. It remains the busiest line in the network, carrying 161 million passengers in fiscal 2023 and more than 6.5 billion passengers in total since opening. During peak periods, up to 16 trains per hour operate in each direction, using 16-car trainsets with a seating capacity of 1,323 and a minimum scheduled headway of three minutes.

Since the opening of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the network has expanded to include 2,951.3 kilometres (1,833.9 mi) of lines with maximum operating speeds ranging from 260 to 320 kilometres per hour (160 to 200 mph), the latter achieved on a 387.5-kilometre (240.8 mi) section of the Tōhoku Shinkansen. The network also includes 283.5 kilometres (176.2 mi) of mini-Shinkansen lines with maximum speeds of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph) and 10.3 kilometres (6.4 mi) of spur lines with Shinkansen services. Shinkansen services operate to most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu and extend to Hakodate on Hokkaido, with an extension to Sapporo under construction and scheduled to open at the end of fiscal year 2038. In 2024, the Shinkansen network recorded 385.9 million passenger journeys.

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