Category: Shinkansen

Following the publication of the five parts of the The Tokyo to Osaka Line covering the classic railway route and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, three further parts were drawn up covering other aspects of the New Tōkaidō Line. In other words mostly stuff that’s little known to the English speaking world! Due to numerous problems with…

Following the publication of the five parts of the The Tokyo to Osaka Line covering the classic railway route and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, the sixth, seventh and eighth parts were drawn up covering other aspects of the New Tōkaidō Line. In other words mostly stuff that’s little known to the English speaking world! High speed…

Following the publication of the five parts of the The Tokyo to Osaka Line covering the classic railway route and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, follow ups were drafted. Largely completed with technical stuff and other gems on the New Tōkaidō Line, as well as its drivers and engineers etc. In other words other aspects of the…

The year is now 1964 and the New Tokaido Line is ready to be opened! The 515.4 kilometres (320miles) between Tokyo and Osaka was opened to critical acclaim in October 1964 and instantly became a world wide hit. High speed trains were the future! In the line’s early days the services were limited to a…

The fourth instalment in this comprehensive series on the origins of the Shinkasen! This covers a series of photographs of the line’s construction between Tokyo and Osaka, with the former and latter stations well represented, as seen during 1963. There’s also some detail about the construction of the New Tanna Tunnel on which work had…

This is the second part of the planning/construction of the Shinaksen. Its straight in to the history! The construction of the Shinkansen would require enormous investment, some thought it would be as much as 200 billion yen. A significant proportion of the funds would have to be raised from banking institutes. In 1959 the Minister…

Writing a comprehensive history upon the origins of Japan’s Shinkansen is a large project indeed – and few in the English world have sought to undertake such a task with the exception of Dr. Christopher Hood who is an expert on Japan and has penned a notable history of the Shinanksen. I’ve only read the…

While we in the UK battle wits over whether a new high speed railway should be built or not, I thought it would be a good idea to do a feature on the world’s first ever high speed railway – the New Tōkaidō Line. It was originally planned in 1940 albeit with lower speeds. Although…