I love the Japanese Shinkansen. Firstly the passenger capacities are enormous. The standard Shinkansen carries 1324 passengers - more than two double-decker French TGV Duplex trainsets joined end-to-end (combined total of 1090). At busy times these enormous trains run at just four minute intervals. However, despite using the same standard gauge tracks as the Britain/Europe (1435mm - thank George Stephenson), the Shinkansen's high loading gauge (ie the width of the train allowed by platforms and other track-side furniture), allows for 3-2 passenger seating - yet still with considerably larger seats and more legroom than on TGV or Eurostar. Shinkansen's safety and pinpoint punctuality are also legendary. However, when it comes to speed, only the 500 Series Shinkansen running the Sanyo Line can match the 300km/h (186mph) top speeds achieved as standard in Europe. Admittedly the 500 Series holds the world average speed record on the Sanyo Shinkansen - but there are only nine 500 Series Shinkansen sets in existance. Indeed the UK's quota of Eurostars mean that Britain actually has more 300km/h capable trainsets than Japan. Most 300 and 700 Series Shinkansen's run slightly slower at 270km/h and 285km/h respectively. However that's all set to change as JR East (Japan has privatised rail companies like the UK....) has started testing its new 360S due to enter service in 2011. Here is the BBC article:


A bullet train... only with ears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4621217.stm

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41231000/jpg/_41231597_train_body_ap.jpg

The special braking system is designed with quakes in mind


Japan is beginning trials of the newest and sleekest version of its Shinkansen "Bullet Train" which boasts ear-like air brakes for emergency halts.

The latest model will travel at up to 360km/h (233mph) but is capable of reaching even higher speeds.

Its ears - half-moon shaped fins along the roof - are designed for rapid braking in the event of earthquakes.

The train, expected to be in service by 2011, is a highly-developed version of the original Bullet, launched in 1964.


Safety first

Since then, the Shinkansen has acquired an enviable record of safety and punctuality.

The new Fastech 360S model has a top speed of 405km/h (250mph).

But the East Japan Railway company, the country's largest rail operator, says creating the world's fastest train was not their only aim.

"The test runs are to see how the technology designed to ensure safety, reduce noise and swaying [works]. Running faster is not the only goal," a spokesman said.

Trial runs are expected between the northern Japanese cities of Sendai and Kamikita cities from Saturday.

The world's fastest trains currently in commercial operation include the Sanyo Shinkansen run by West Japan Railway, the TGV in France and the Eurostar which links London, Brussels and Paris.

Another interesting BBC article:


Riding the rails Japanese style
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/2045375.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38075000/jpg/_38075802_bullet.jpg

The bullet train - symbol of Japan's economic progress


The white arrow, the blue sky, the thunder bird, the salt breeze, the sunrise express, and the super view dancing girl. The names of just some of Japan's express trains are unashamedly romantic and make it easy for me to admit that I have become a trainspotter in Japan.

I don't stand on the end of platforms with my telephoto lens and notebook, but collecting as many different train rides as possible has become an obsession. For me, travelling by train in Japan is a window onto the soul of this country.

If you ask someone in Japan where they live, they're likely to reply with the train line that takes them there. Everyone travels by train and trains go nearly everywhere. As such, they are the social glue of the country.

Commuters have their train passes paid for by their companies. The distance you live from the station is usually a good indication of your wealth - the nearer, the richer.


Premium

Train lines are the ultimate political paybacks, new bullet train lines to the back of beyond are the classic way to reward faithful supporters and trains play a central role in some of Japan's most popular literature and films.

My trainspotting all started with the Tobu line, a small private railway which connects Asakusa, Tokyo's bustling down town district, with points directly north.

This is the line that took me to my first home in Japan. It's not a fast or a particularly essential line - it goes to small towns with small industries - but there's nevertheless a choice of a comfortable express, a semi-express and a stopping train.

The difference between the fastest and slowest is just 25 minutes, but it costs more than double the price for the express ticket. In this small, crowded nation, breathing space and a guaranteed seat are charged at a premium.


Romance

The Tobu line's name for such luxury is the romance car, because it ends its journey at a distant hot spring resort - the site of torrid assignations.

The romance is perhaps fostered by the mushroom-coloured velvet pairs of seats which are so narrow that you have to become cosy with your travelling companions.

But it also has a retro air - the guards are dressed in distinctive orange-brown uniforms the colour of maple and walnut pudding.

The scenery outside the window is first of the unfashionable tightly packed northern suburbs and then the searingly green rice fields and ramshackle farmhouses of Japan's inaka or countryside.

It's always either freezing or boiling on this train.

"It's a country train," says my friend Take, who lives halfway down the line. "They like to show they have air-conditioning that works."


Inflexibility

On the stopping train, the automatic doors let in the swooning heat of summer, and in winter the icy winds straight from Siberia.

There are hundreds of similar lines crisscrossing Japan, each with its own character, and of course its own lunchbox or bento.

Japan's train bentos are neatly packed boxes of local delicacies and the source of a distinct breed of Japanese trainspotter - the lunchbox pilgrim who travels the country just to try a certain train line's bento.

There is an unwritten rule of train travel in Japan - if you are on an express train you have to start eating as soon as the train departs. Drinking beer is also mandatory - even if it's early in the morning.

Of course, all these trains are on time - the object of envy the world over. But while I relish that reliability, I also see it as a feature of Japan's rigid inflexibility . There's no holding a train to let a struggling mother with two small children jump on, and woe-betide the guard that lets a train miss its departure time by a nano-second.

One station manager famously committed suicide last year because his trains were late. Delays of a few minutes on the famous bullet trains are the subject of national news bulletins - only earthquakes, typhoons and blizzards are seen as reasonable excuses for lateness.


Economic progress

Bullet trains, by the way, are not called that in Japanese. They are known as the Shinkansen, the direct translation of which is the rather more prosaic - new, high-speed train.

Riding the shinkansen, you can feel Japan's economic progress since World War II in the train's the speed and efficiency. But you can also feel the resistance to change which ties this country down when you can't use a credit card to buy a ticket costing hundreds of pounds - the train company accepts only cash or its own credit card.

But nothing can take away from the sheer pleasure of gliding along in a green car as the first-class section of the shinkansen and seeing the white-gloved guard bow to the train as it leaves the station exactly on schedule.

The passengers lean back on their starched antimacassars. Beer cans are popped open and you can hear a rustling as bento boxes are neatly unwrapped in unison.

Here are some shots of my own favourable experiences on a 300 Series Shinkansen operating the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka in October last year:


Trains pull up opposite metal plates marked with carriage and seat numbers so that passengers can queue up in exactly the right place for their seats:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Japan/PlatformPlates.jpg


Seats have plenty of legroom and all are aligned with a window:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Japan/SpaciousLegroom.jpg


A view down the carriage showing the 2-3 seating:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Japan/CarriageInterior.jpg


My bento lunchbox before I opened it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Japan/Bentoclosed.jpg


I then enjoyed the sushi as we raced out of Tokyo with stunning views of Mount Fuji in the bright early morning sun - magic! :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Japan/Bentoopen.jpg

Never been on one sadly- will have to at soempoint in my life.


. My favourite thing about the trian from narita to Tokyo is that all of the seats swivel round automatically on entering the airport so that everyobe faces fowards even after teh change in direciton. Completely pointless, but impressive.

with these do we really need a maglev? we should just get next gen tgv.

^ But Maglev is considerably faster. Even the earliest versions go 500km/h. The Shanghai Maglev is currently restricted to 430km/h (270mph) simply because of the short length of the track (30km or 18 miles). It could serve at 500km/h on a longer stretch and will do so once the planned extensions to the city centre and Hangzhou are complete. It's easy to envision Maglev operating at 700km/h in the near future which is double the speed of even next generation Shinkansen or TGV. And it's not just the top speed but also the acceleration. Maglev accelerates much faster so the difference in average speed is considerably greater than the difference in top speed. Interestingly Maglev can also turn sharper even at higher speeds because the tracks can be tilted more than flanged wheels/rails. That means that routes are more flexible than HSR too. We are approaching the limits of wheels and rails. As speeds get ever higher the maintanance costs increase - making frcitionless (and therefore low maintenance....) Maglev look more and more economically viable.

good point about acceleration.
personally id replace our entire intercity network with next gen tgv and then have a maglev spine linking just the biggest cities together.

Amazing train and I agree that this could be used with a maglev system to really improve our rail network. I love the ears on this thing too.

What is interesting is that you could actually get maglev to go faster in pressurised tunnels under urban areas and slower in the countryside where they would be exposed to the friction of air. It sounds like fantasy, would cost a lot, but by god, it would be as revolutionary as electricity or the computer I think.

^ "Pressurised tunnels"? Sounds unrealistic Nick.... :no:

If americans werent so damned dependent on their suvs and cars they might consider things like this. The traint takes four hours from chicago to detroit, only 220 miles!! The only trains that travel more than 100 mph only span the eastern seaboard from washington, dc to boston. That's i! Makes me jealous of europeans and japanese.

^ "Pressurised tunnels"? Sounds unrealistic Nick.... :no:LOL sounds crazy, but actually its something currently in development in Switzerland. Whether its economical is a question I dont have the answer to but I suspect that it would be far to expensive.

Surely depressurised tunnels would work a lot better!?

LOL correct, wee typo - meant to be a vaccum the tunnels. :P

Maglev in vaccum tunnels or vaccum tubes over ground would(and probably will some day) rock!! :banana:

When I was living in Japan I always treated myself monthly to going on the shink. I've been on the ICE trains, the Eurostar since its been upgraded. Sadly I haven't been on a TGV yet. I way way way prefer the shinkansen to the Eurostar and the ICE trains. The ICE trains have a lovely interior though.

Going on a bullet train IS special. They just feel invincible... the build and ride quality are just superb, they have loads of different variants, they are always on time and the frequencies are well... frequent!

Taking the Kyoto-Tokyo shinkansen is an experience. Kyoto stations interior rivals that of Grand Centrals, Frankfurts or Paddingtons... it is simply spectacular.

Leaving from that station, whizzing past Mount Fuji and gliding into Tokyo through Shinagawa, Shiodome, Ginza and finally stopping at Maranouichi is one hell of an experience. Do it once in your lifetime.. you won't regret it.

KONICHIWAAAAA!!! :guns1:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/Fatmonkey/Japan/shinkansen-10.jpg

I thought the Siemens Velaros and Talgo 350 reached those speeds?

:?

^ No they run slightly slower. They are also much smaller trains. Shinkansen kick arse!!

The problem with maglev though it is completely not compatable with the existing tracks. You could open up SO many more cities to high speed travel by buidling one high speed main track route through Britain (give how skinny it is) and then have the trains branch off to existing rails at a normal speed.

This is the exact approach that the Spaniards are taking (well, minus the one trunk route thing as that does not work given the size of the country) with their high speed lines, AND they have the problem of a different gauge. They have high speed trains that run for example on the route from Madrid to Malaga via Cordoba. The Cordoba-Malaga route for high speed is not yet finished, so what trains are doing is traveling on the high speed Madrid-Sevilla route, but stopping at Cordoba, changing gauges on the train, and then continuing at normal speed, all without passengers having to switch gauge. In fact, they don't even have to make the train stop anymore, it can change gauge as it rolls through a station. :drool:

You can't do this with Maglev, and Britain already would have a significant advantage over the Spaniards in regards to the fact that the high speed lines already would be the same gauge as the rest of the network.

How far is it to Glasgow from London, less than 500 miles? Using the average prediected speed of the future Madrid-Barcelona high speed line (about 400 miles in 2.5 hours, 160 miles per hour on average), it would be possible to get to London from Glasgow in about three hours. From there trains could branch off this main route and increase the spead for all the UK rather than just those that live on the 6 stops on a proposed Maglev route.

I don't know much about Bullet Trains and the like so please bare with me with the following questions.

I've always wanted North American Cities to be connected with High Speed Railways, Is it possible at all to have perhaps a Maglev at speeds in excess of 500kmh connecting major cities like Toronto, Chicago, New York?

Or over longer distances is it more likely to have TGV's and Shinkansen like Bullet Trains?

I don't know much about Bullet Trains and the like so please bare with me with the following questions.

I've always wanted North American Cities to be connected with High Speed Railways, Is it possible at all to have perhaps a Maglev at speeds in excess of 500kmh connecting major cities like Toronto, Chicago, New York?

Or over longer distances is it more likely to have TGV's and Shinkansen like Bullet Trains?
Well, first off, I think that the North American case is perhaps very different from the European case, as our railways, to put it bluntly, are significantly underfunded. And a Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal high speed rail line could be the most profitable Canadian one, connecting the capital with the two largest cities speaking the two languages of Canada.

And throw in a Chicago-Lansing-Ann Arbor-Detroit-Windsor-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal scenario, and that sounds damn sexy. :drool:

I think that we could probably still do with regular high speed rail.

I thin kthe distance between Toronto and New York that exists by rail is already 550 miles, so you probably could in about 3.5 hours assuming European average speeds connect Toronto in a Toronto-Hamilton-Niagra-Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse-Albany-New York route. New York-Montreal would be even quicker.

I am not sure about Maglev though. I think that considering the larger distances involved in North American transport versus more compact Europe, I think that Maglev could make more sense here. However, I think that it would be too untested a technology and at least in the states, we are VERY timidi about such things.

In short, Maglev probably would be better in certain circumstances, but I think that building high speed rail that is compatable with the existing infranstructure would be an easier sell.

:)

los angeles to san francisco is less than 400 miles by road. how long does it take to make the journey by train? up to eleven hours, often more. that's like it taking eleven hours to go from say king's cross to edinburgh waverly (actually a longer journey).

disgraceful really. there's no excuse for amtrak to be so lame, a lot of the journey isn't even by train you have to take a bus. these cities should be connected up, most of the journey is across flat central plains so high speeds should be able to be achieved.

Thanks for the help Don Qui

Honestly a Maglev from the San Francisco to San Diego would just be MIND BLOWING!!

A Maglev Connecting Toronto-Chicago-NewYork-Montreal would also be a dream come true, But as we all know North Americans are SUV obsessed so chances of those two Maglev lines are next to nothing.

los angeles to san francisco is less than 400 miles by road. how long does it take to make the journey by train? up to eleven hours, often more. that's like it taking eleven hours to go from say king's cross to edinburgh waverly (actually a longer journey).

disgraceful really. there's no excuse for amtrak to be so lame, a lot of the journey isn't even by train you have to take a bus. these cities should be connected up, most of the journey is across flat central plains so high speeds should be able to be achieved.
That's really quite shocking and unacceptable for a country like America, especially on a route between two of their most major cities. The UK has suffered from years of underinvestment and has one of the most neglected railway systems in Western Europe and yet that kind of time is shocking even to us. What would a similar journey in France be like? Paris to Bordeaux perhaps? I've been on that route and I think I remember it taking something like 2 and a half hours. Absolutely crazy!

That's really quite shocking and unacceptable for a country like America, especially on a route between two of their most major cities. The UK has suffered from years of underinvestment and has one of the most neglected railway systems in Western Europe and yet that kind of time is shocking even to us. What would a similar journey in France be like? Paris to Bordeaux perhaps? I've been on that route and I think I remember it taking something like 2 and a half hours. Absolutely crazy!
Not quite shocking actually, though perhaps still disgusting.

If we had the population density of Britain, we we be at about, say, 2.5 to 3.0 billion people in the US. :crazy:

Low density to begin with + low density development + car oriented culture + inadequate funding = :toilet:

I place more blame on the last three factors (no reason for Houston to be so :puke: ). And when you think about all the space that we have as a country, it is not surprising that our development has been "out" as upposed to "up."

:cry:

The problem with maglev though it is completely not compatable with the existing tracks. You could open up SO many more cities to high speed travel by buidling one high speed main track route through Britain (give how skinny it is) and then have the trains branch off to existing rails at a normal speed.




The fact that one high speed line can cover so many of the uK's major cities is why its peferct for maglev. Changing trains to reach the less major cities that arent on that line just isnt thta big a deal.Most people that live in the SE including places like Brighton are used to the idea of changing at London.

One of the great attractions of trams over buses is the fixed line- people know the stops that each tram will go to and dont have to fuck about with tiemtabels and bus numbers.

Your plan would have the slight advantage that trains could go direct to other cities without a change but also lead to a disadvantage that in order for trains to be branching off and entering onto the high speed line mid way the frequency of services between each of the major cites on ther line must be lower.



The Spanish situation is different becuase as you sya you cnat have oeb main line whcih covers the major cities.

What a great news!!!

So what are the measurements of your typical bullet train then?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo2dd0Tdmnc&mode=related&search=

So what are the measurements of your typical bullet train then?They're about 400m long (much longer than all European trainsets except for Eurostar - and even Eurostar is shorter than the 300km/h capable 500 Series Shinkansen in Isaac's video) and carry 1324 (single deck) or 1634 (double deck) passengers - far more than any European trainset. Even two French double-decker Duplex TGVs attached end-to-end carry far fewer passengers than a standard single-decked Shinkansen and yet the Japanese trains nonethess offer far more legroom.

Monkey, how fast does the Eurostar reach in the UK? Does it approach it's design speed or is it restricted? If so, are there plans to remove the restrictions for trains to travel at high speed here?

^ Eurostar goes 300km/h (186mph) in the UK on phase 1 of the CTRL and has done since 2003. Phase II, the part from outer London to St Pancras, much of it in tunnels, begins operating in November this year (construction is already complete). The top speed is slightly slower than the 300km/h achieved on phase 1 in Kent - mainly because of the tunnels. Eurostar trainsets are technically capable of hitting 320km/h service speeds but they don't operate at this speed anywhere at present.

They're about 400m long (much longer than all European trainsets except for Eurostar - and even Eurostar is shorter than the 300km/h capable 500 Series Shinkansen in Isaac's video) and carry 1324 (single deck) or 1634 (double deck) passengers - far more than any European trainset. Even two French double-decker Duplex TGVs attached end-to-end carry far fewer passengers than a standard single-decked Shinkansen and yet the Japanese trains nonethess offer far more legroom.

Don't SNCF and DB achieve those lengths with double sets?

What about the 'bullet' trains loading gauge?

Seem to be much wider then your typical European train.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkd11moJ_Es

Their schedules put Europe to shame (although the pendolinos out of Euston run to a pretty tight schedule)

They have three types

Kodama - stops everywhere
Hikari - stops at large towns
Nozomi - Only stops in the major metropolitan areas

So you get lots of overtaking

Don't SNCF and DB achieve those lengths with double sets?Yes they achieve comparable length with double sets but Eurostar is the only European single set to match the length of Shinkansen trains. However no European trains come close to matching the capacity of Shinkansen trainsets.What about the 'bullet' trains loading gauge? Seem to be much wider then your typical European train.I think the loading gauge very high even though the track gauge is the same as in Britain and Europe. They can seat 3-2 across (like commuter trains in Britain) yet the seats and corridors seem far wider than even 2-2 trainsets in Europe. The carriages are also longer on Japanese trains so there are fewer space wasting divides. Bullet trains are also multiple units (unlike TGV trainsets which are locomotives and carriages) so passengers can seat along the entire length of the train - including the end cars. They also don't waste space with buffet cars. Instead you have airline style service on trolleys. Japan invented high speed rail and they still do it best. :)

good point about acceleration.
personally id replace our entire intercity network with next gen tgv and then have a maglev spine linking just the biggest cities together.

So what would happen with all the local branch lines, like the one i used to take to get to university between Penistone and Sheffield??

Don't SNCF and DB achieve those lengths with double sets?

What about the 'bullet' trains loading gauge?

Seem to be much wider then your typical European train.

Yes they achieve comparable length with double sets but Eurostar is the only European single set to match the length of Shinkansen trains. However no European trains come close to matching the capacity of Shinkansen trainsets.

Eurostar 2 power cars +18 trailers
TGV 2 power cars + 8 trailers.
Though 2xTGVs is practiacally the same length, it would only have 16 passenger trailers. Obviously 3+2 seating helps, but if I remember right dont Shinkansen have no dedicated power cars like Pendolino's? Hence seating in every vehicle?

^ That's right. I explained that on post #36 if you look. ;)

Here is an interesting comparison of formations, capacities, and speeds of different train types in Britain, France, and Japan. Most Japanese Shinkansen have a capacity of 1324 passengers. The double deck E4 Series Shinkansen has a world record capacity of 1,634 passengers. TGVs are slightly faster than Shinkansens apart from the 500 Series which shares the 186 mph (300 kph) maximum speed with TGV's and Eurostars. As you can see Eurostars are the best trains in Europe - double the length and capacity of a regular TGV Atlantique but running at the same 186 mph (300 kph) speed:


Virgin Pendolino (class 390)
Formation: electric multiple unit with 8 or 9 cars
Capacity: 363 or 439 seats
Service speed: 225 kph

First Great Western Adelante (class 180)
Formation: diesel multiple unit with 5 or 10 cars
Capacity: 280 passengers or 560 in double formation.
Service speed: 200 kph

Inter City 125 or HST (class 43)
Formation: diesel electric trainset with 2 power cars and 8 trailers
Capacity: 600 passengers
Service speed: 200 kph

Inter City 225 (class 91)
Formation: electric locomotive hauling 9 carriages and 1 driving van trailer
Capacity: 508 passengers
Speed: 225 kph

TGV (older Paris Sud-Est type sets)
Formation: electric trainset with 2 power cars and 8 trailers
Capacity: 377 passengers
Service speed: 270 kph.

TGV (newer Atlantique type sets)
Formation: electric trainset with 2 power cars and 10 trailers
Capacity: 485 passengers
Service speed: 300 kph

TGV Duplex (double decker)
Formation: electric trainset with 2 power cars and 8 trailers
Capacity: 545 passengers or 1090 in double formation (European record)
Service speed: 300 kph

TGV Korea
Formation: electric trainset with 2 power cars and 18 trailers
Capacity: 935 passengers
Service speed: 300 kph

Eurostar
Formation: electric trainset with 2 power cars and 18 trailers
Capacity: 794 passengers (394m long - European record)
Service speed: 300 kph

Shinkansen Series 300
Formation: electric multiple unit with 16 cars
Capacity: 1324 passengers
Service speed: 270 kph

Shinkansen Series 500
Formation: electric multiple unit with 16 cars
Capacity: 1324 passengers (404m long - joint world record with N700 and 700T)
Service speed: 300 kph

Shinkansen Series 700
Formation: electric multiple unit with 16 cars
Capacity: 1324 passengers
Service speed: 285 kph

Shinkansen Series E4 (double decker)
Formation: electric multiple unit with 8 or 16 cars
Capacity: 812 passengers or 1624 in double formation (world record)
Service speed: 240 kph

Shinkansen Series N700
Formation: electric multiple unit with 16 cars (404m long - joint world record with 500 and 700T)
Capacity: 1324 passengers
Service speed: 300 kph

Shinkansen Series 700T (Taiwan)
Formation: electric multiple unit with 16 cars (404m long - joint world record with 500 and N700)
Capacity: 989 passengers
Service speed: 300 kph


The world's best high speed trains are the 500 Series and N700 Series Shinkansens. They combine 300km/h operating speed (up to 320km/h if running behind schedule - which in Japan is hardly ever) and 1324 passengers seated with loads of legroom and seats aligned to windows.

Thank you for that very usefull summary.

I expect in the next five years that the Chinese will surpass the Shinkansen series E4 with 20-car double decker high speed trains with a capacity of about 2000 passengers. These trains would require plaforms approaching 500 meters long which was in the specification which was published for Chinese high speed lines in 2000/2001. (I am still searching for the reference to this specification as my stored URL is no longer valid)

Interestingly these very high capacity trains were only required to operate at 250 km/h maximun. There was a comment that they were designed for the short distance, very densely traveled routes and energy efficiency was more important than high speed.

Does anyone know if the Japanese have considered lenghtening the platforms on the Shinkansen lines?

Does anyone know if the Japanese have considered lenghtening the platforms on the Shinkansen lines?I don't know if they've considered lengthening the platforms but I think they have enough capacity as it is. Services are extremely frequent (high tech signalling I suppose....) and the trains are massive. 400m+ is about as long as you'd want in any case. Much longer than that and it would take too long for passengers to find their places. One thing I love about Shinkansen - they have metal plates on the platforms with the carriage and seat numbers. Passengers then queue up and get on the train in exactly the right place for their seats. It's so well organised.

That must really cut down on dwell times!

I don't know if they've considered lengthening the platforms but I think they have enough capacity as it is. Services are extremely frequent (high tech signalling I suppose....) and the trains are massive. 400m+ is about as long as you'd want in any case. Much longer than that and it would take too long for passengers to find their places. One thing I love about Shinkansen - they have metal plates on the platforms with the carriage and seat numbers. Passengers then queue up and get on the train in exactly the right place for their seats. It's so well organised.

Including the delivery of warm bowls of noodles to the queues on the plaform before the first train from Niigata to Tokyo in the morning. Note: the bowls were all stacked in the entry way to the car in Tokyo for return to the vendor. They appeared to marked with a symbol which I assumed would identify the vendor.

Actually, I doubt that longer trains would cause any delays as the passengers are all waiting at exactly the right place for the cars.

One thing I love about Shinkansen - they have metal plates on the platforms with the carriage and seat numbers. Passengers then queue up and get on the train in exactly the right place for their seats. It's so well organised.

I've seen that on European HS trains as well (Amsterdam - Brussels I believe). Numbered flags near where the door stops. On your ticket it says which number to go to be nearest to your seat.

^ Good progress. They should unroll this across Europe.

I've seen that on European HS trains as well (Amsterdam - Brussels I believe). Numbered flags near where the door stops. On your ticket it says which number to go to be nearest to your seat.

Every station in Germany with InterCity services has a train board which identifies the location of each carriage in each train. These are keyed to overhead platform segment signs along each platform. With a little experience I can be within 2 meters of my door for each train.

Unfortunately the Japanese system would not work in Germany as there are too many different consists and routes on the InterCity services. The advent of the ICE trains has reduced the consists to about six different configurations but the same problem still exists

I've seen that on European HS trains as well (Amsterdam - Brussels I believe). Numbered flags near where the door stops. On your ticket it says which number to go to be nearest to your seat.

This also happens on the Eurostar trains information on the ground (painted in white)states where the carriage doors are going to be.

haha. try getting a eurostar from newark when they ran there. the train was almost twice the length of the platforms causing complete havoc as people couldnt get off it. lol

As you can see Eurostars are the best trains in Europe - double the length and capacity of a regular TGV Atlantique but running at the same 186 mph (300 kph) speed:


And each locomotive kicks out over 6000kW (8000 hp)

TGV atlantique pwer car 4400 kW (5900 hp)

I think overall the Shinkansen series 500 wins at 18,240 kW (25,000 hp), but that power is spread over 16 cars so it's about 1,300kW (1,800 hp) per car. For an individual vehicle, I think Eurostar is the most powerful high speed loco on earth, even though it's strictly part of an EMU.

^ Good progress. They should unroll this across Europe.

It has been standard in Germany since a very long time to have signs on the carriages with its number.
Youll have one of these displays on the outside of each carriage on an ICE:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/42/84543084_2c5076d88f.jpg?v=1137827050

You can see the display under the number 2:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/10/13083959_58473102e2.jpg?v=0


The overhead boards at the platform will tell you which carriage will stop where:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1056/775709972_046bce6102.jpg?v=0

Considering the Maglev:
The chinese are not sure about building another line also because of health risks for people who live close to the track due to electromagnetic radiation.
Doesnt surprise me to be honest.
On the other hand a line between the munich airport and the city has chances.