Tōhoku Shinkansen

The Tōhoku Shinkansen (Japanese: 東北新幹線; lit. 'Northeast new main line') is a Japanese high-speed rail line and part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), it runs along the Tōhoku region of Japan's main island, Honshu. It links Tokyo in the south to Aomori in the north, with stops in major cities such as Morioka, Koriyama, Fukushima, Hachinohe, and Sendai. With a route length of 674.9 kilometres (419.4 mi), it is Japan's longest Shinkansen line and supports the network's highest operating speed, reaching 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph) on a 387.5-kilometre (241 mi) section between Utsunomiya and Morioka.

The line opened in stages beginning in 1982 between Ōmiya and Morioka, with the final section to Shin-Aomori completed in 2010. It connects with the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which opened in 2016 and extends services through the Seikan Tunnel to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. The Tōhoku Shinkansen also has two mini-Shinkansen branches, the Yamagata Shinkansen and Akita Shinkansen, lines operating at conventional speeds, but with widened track to permit through-running by Shinkansen trainsets. Ongoing work aims to further increase operating speeds to 360 kilometres per hour (220 mph) in the future.

Four services currently operate on the route: the express Hayabusa, the limited-stop Yamabiko, and the all-stop Hayate and Nasuno. The Hayabusa is the only train that operates the length of the corridor, with the Hayabusa and Hayate providing through service onto the Hokkaido Shinkansen. As of 2021, the fastest travel times between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori are on the Hayabusa service, at 2 hours and 58 minutes. The mini-Shinkansen also provide through service to and from Tokyo via the Tōhoku Shinkansen; typically, Komachi and Tsubasa trains are coupled to Hayabusa and Yamabiko trains at Tokyo and are decoupled at Morioka and Fukushima, respectively, where they continue on to their mini-Shinkansen lines.