JAPAN | High Speed Rail

[Gag Halfrunt]

Originally Posted by JR-fan

Look the cockpits from same ages (mid 90's) trains:

I would imagine that the TGV Duplex cockpit was designed to be similar to older TGV models, so that drivers could switch over without retraining.

By the way, TRAXX locomotives are made by the German branch of Bombardier, formerly ADtranz, and development began before Bombardier acquired the business.

[Ginger Tosser]

Originally Posted by JR-fan

Type 500

Nice picture, you can see where Taito got the idea for the Densha de Go Shinkansen controller from!

[2co2co]

....HOW MANY GAMES HAVE YOU GOT THERE??

2 game cubes, I can see a SNES, and is that Playstation as well?

[Huhu]

Looks like there's a Genesis and an Xbox too.

[mr.suroy]

I happened to watch a documentary about the experimental Fastech in NHK world. I think I heard that in one of the experiments, the Fastech, while travelling at 300kph, needs 3.8 km of rail to stop completely, without any awkward sensation inside the train(being thrown to the front). It is like an airplane, that needs long runway for landing. Good things is, trains like Fastech, consider both speed and comfort in travel, whereas other commuter trains would not bother to see if the passengers already have their faces sticking on the glass while braking.

[nouveau.ukiyo]

According to, I think, the Wikipedia article for Shinkansen, any speed increases on the current Shinkansen network is "too fast." It's because at those speeds there is excessive track and catenary wear. In a way, we've reached the current limit of railway speeds, unless a way to counter the wear is found and economical to introduce. Unfortunately, the next evolution, maglev, is cost prohibitive as well. I think JR Central's plan to build one from Nagoya to Tokyo is preposterous, as it will cost (currently) $25 billion dollars and won't even extend all the way to Kansai.

Nevertheless, Japan's current system is quite good and already quite fast, so the need for higher speeds isn't really needed. Now if they could expand the network a bit and lower those ticket prices, that would be great. And more importantly, they should work on marketing Shinkansen technology to other countries. They'd get some revenue out of it and be able to experiment more as well; in way, they could out source the development of Shinkansen technology, lowering costs and speeding up development. They are starting to do this, but it's taken along time (introduced in 1964 and only recently they start to take the technology abroad?)

[Chafford1]

Originally Posted by nouveau.ukiyo

According to, I think, the Wikipedia article for Shinkansen, any speed increases on the current Shinkansen network is "too fast." It's because at those speeds there is excessive track and catenary wear. In a way, we've reached the current limit of railway speeds, unless a way to counter the wear is found and economical to introduce.

Nevertheless, Japan's current system is quite good and already quite fast, so the need for higher speeds isn't really needed.

The Fastech production trains will run at 320km/h from 2011 rather than the originally planned 360 km/h, which bears out your point that high speed has to be economically viable.

[lindow]

JR Central started construction of Maglev. On the other hand, JR East aims at the speedup of the Shinkansen. but the leading role of the high speed railway will be Maglev.

[richardrli]

Is Shinkansen faster than the TGV?

[Minato ku]

No.

[Insane alex]

cant see the pics!

[ddes]

It feels so disappointing for Japan.

The Fastech 360 will only operate at 320km/h, while the French with the AGV, as well as the Siemens Velaro (which is running at 350km/h in China and soon Spain) will operate at considerably higher speeds.

[trainrover]

Originally Posted by Insane alex

cant see the pics!

ditto

[japanese001]

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan's largest maker of rail cars, will develop trains able to run as fast as 350 kilometers (217 miles) an hour, aiming to win orders from the U.S., Brazil and emerging markets.

The efSET, as the new train will be called, will use the Shinkansen high-speed technology and be ready by March 2010, Kobe, Japan-based Kawasaki Heavy said today in a faxed statement. The maximum speed of the trains running on the Shinkansen, a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan, is 300 kilometers an hour.

Kawasaki Heavy will seek contracts as developed and emerging economies build 10,000 kilometers of high-speed rail links in the next 20 years, according to the statement.

　川崎重工は、新型高速鉄道車両「ｅｆＳＥＴ（イーエフセット）※」の開発に着手することを決定しました。今回の新型高速鉄道車両の自社開発は、世界市場に照準を合わせた自主的な車両開発であり、これまで国内外で展開してきた案件毎の車両開発とは異なる全く新しい取り組みで、高速鉄道車両の分野では、日本の鉄道車両メーカーとして初めての取り組みになります。

　今回当社が開発する高速鉄道車両は、営業運転速度３５０ｋｍ／ｈを実現するとともに、これまで国内の新幹線車両の設計で培った乗客の快適性向上や周辺環境への負荷低減を実現する技術を適用した新型車両で、２００９年度末までに開発を完了する予定です。

　当社は、１９６４年に営業運転を開始した０系新幹線から、最新鋭の新幹線車両に至る国内向け新幹線車両の設計・製造に永く携わってきた鉄道車両メーカーであり、高速鉄道車両の設計・製造に関する豊富な実績およびノウハウを有しています。また、当社は２００４年に台湾高速鉄道向け７００Ｔ型車両、２００６年に中国鉄道部向けＣＲＨ２型車両を納入した実績を有し、これら車両の良好な運行実績からアジア地域における高速鉄道車両市場での基礎を築いてきました。

　鉄道車両は温暖化ガス排出量が少ない大量輸送手段として、世界的に重要性が見直されており、都市間移動の主要交通手段として高速鉄道の導入が世界的に検討されつつあります。現在、アメリカ、ブラジル、ロシア、インド、ベトナムなどの国々が高速鉄道の具体的な新規建設計画を進め、世界中で今後２０年程度の期間で１０，０００ｋｍ前後の高速鉄道路線が増設される予定であり、これに応じた高速鉄道車両の需要が見込まれています。

　こうした市場環境のもと、欧州の鉄道車両メーカーも自社開発の高速鉄道車両の開発・市場投入を進めており、当社は欧州列強との競争に勝ち切り、世界市場での受注を獲得するためには、世界基準に沿った自社開発の高速鉄道車両が必要と判断し、今回の開発を決断しました。開発に際しては、国内鉄道事業者ならびに国内外の機器・部品メーカーからの協力を得ながら、ユーザーフレンドリーで信頼性の高い高速鉄道車両開発を進める予定です。

　当社は、今回の新型高速鉄道車両の開発を機に、今後も鉄道車両ビジネスの拡大および収益力向上を実現していくとともに、より快適で優れた交通手段の提供を通じて世界規模で社会に貢献していきます。

[SimFox]

just ads it happened with cars HS trains also become look a likes... pity.

[japanese001]

OSAKA--The 0 Series Shinkansen, the original model that debuted with the opening of the Shinkansen network in 1964, will be retired from service in mid-December, having made a lasting impression on the imagination of the public and on the lives of the people who worked on them.

Regular operations of the 0 Series Shinkansen, which currently run daily on the West Japan Railway Co.'s Sanyo Shinkansen line between Osaka and Fukuoka, will conclude at the end of November.

By that time, 0 Series trains will have traveled a combined total distance equivalent to 30,000 times the circumference of the Earth.

The 0 Series is scheduled to run for a further three days in mid-December so that passengers can bid farewell to the engineering landmark.

"The thought of not seeing the trains run again makes me feel sad," says Kiyoshi Tamura, a vice chief at the JR West Hakata Shinkansen train yard in Nakagawamachi, Fukuoka Prefecture, who has been involved in the repair and design of Shinkansen trains since joining the firm--then Japanese National Railways--in 1978.

Tamura, 55, will retire next spring, just months after the 0 Series ferries its final passengers.

Unlike modern aluminum-constructed trains, the steel-constructed 0 Series models are prone to corrosion, with rainwater causing rust to form on the cars.

"Sometimes passengers have claimed that rainwater [leaking through holes] got into their bento boxes. The trains need frequent repair work, and strange noises occur if we don't take care of them," Tamura said.

Tamura's former duties also involved controlling the air pressure inside the cars. The Sanyo Shinkansen line, running between Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka and Hakata Station in Fukuoka, passes through a series of tunnels, and passengers can experience discomfort in their ears if the air pressure is not sufficiently maintained.

He said, "I had to stay alert for the slightest gaps in window seals and other places." To Tamura, the 0 Series was "a child that caused a lot of trouble."

On the day of the 0 Series' final run, however, Tamura will stand at his favorite viewing spot, a place he discovered in Yamaguchi Prefecture, so he will be able to forever recall the sight of the 0 Series speeding by.

One former Shinkansen worker who was initially less sentimental about the trains is Terunobu Utsunomiya, 58, now the acting director of the Kyushu Railway History Museum in Kitakyushu. He admits that, when he first worked on the 0 Series Shinkansen as a dining car staffer, he was not particularly fond of the trains.

"I felt that the 0 Series didn't capture the romance of travel and that it didn't have the relaxed atmosphere of other express trains," he said.

His feelings prompted him to resign from his post, but after the more modern 100 Series made its debut, Utsunomiya had a change of heart and developed an affection for the 0 Series.

He returned to work on the 0 Series, and served there as the dining car chief from 1991 to 1995, when the service was removed from 0 Series trains.

At that time, the country was enjoying the last days of the bubble economy, and the Shinkansen's seats were full of workers on business trips. Utsunomiya recalls: "The bento boxes we made in the dining car were snapped up. I even got an extra bonus!"

The job was no piece of cake, though. Utsunomiya had to remain standing throughout the journey, as the train shook and trembled. By the end of his shift, his knees would be shaking with fatigue.

"Both I and the 0 Series worked hard," he said.

Utsunomiya hopes one of the 0 Series trains will be added to the exhibits at the Kitakyushu museum, to sit alongside its JNR steam locomotive and other precious railway memorabilia.

"I'd like to care for the weary train cars that have been running for so long," he says.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national...18TDY04301.htm

[serdar samanlı]

Sad news. I hope they will preserve some of them in museums

[wonwiin]

Hopefully some sets will be donated to technic museums around the world.

[Momo1435]

This was not only the 1st dedicated high speed trains, they're also the 1st series of High Speed Train that goes into retirement. A well deserved retirement for these pioneers of highspeed rail travel after 44 years of active duty. Right now with the N700, already the 5th generation of Shinkansen doing it's runs on the Tokaido Shinkansen (0 -> 300 -> 500 -> 700 -> N700) continuing the legend.

さよなら新幹線0系電車

[ruready1000]

Congratulation for honorable retirement.

JR 0 series special section : This section have many interesting contents about 0 series.