Tokaido Shinkansen

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen (Japanese: 東海道新幹線; lit. 'East coast route, new main line') is a Japanese high-speed rail line and part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Together with the San'yō Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed corridor through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tōkaidō corridor.

Opened in 1964 between Tōkyō and Shin-Ōsaka stations, it was the world's first high-speed rail line and remains one of the busiest. Since 1987, it has been operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), following its transfer from Japanese National Railways (JNR).

The line offers three service types: the super-express Nozomi, the express Hikari, and the all-stop Kodama. Many Nozomi and Hikari trains continue onto the San’yō Shinkansen, reaching as far as Hakata station in Fukuoka. All services operate at similar top speeds.

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen is among the most frequent high-speed rail services in the world, with up to 17 trains per hour (13 Nozomi, 2 Hikari, and 2 Kodama). In JFY2019, an average of 378 trains operated daily, and as of 2019, the average delay per train was just 12 seconds.

In 2000, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen was designated a joint Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and IEEE Milestone by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.