 When thinking about high-speed rail, you might first think of France, or Spain, or even of China. But for me, I think of Japan. Besides creating the original modern high-speed rail system, Japan's high-speed rail is still unmatched in many ways, with better service and more unique rolling stock and infrastructure than any other system in the world. This incredible reputation for fast trains has led to a lot of curiosity over the years, as well as attempts to emulate Japan's success in tying a nation of islands together with ribbons of continuously welded steel. And I'd argue no other country has yet to match the incredible network that is the Shinkansen. So let's talk about what makes the original bullet train so special. If you're new around here, I'm Reese, and on RM Transit we talk about all things public transport from bus rapid transit to subway systems and high-speed rail. Make sure to subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss any future videos. We'll be making a lot more on high-speed rail this year. A special thank you to JR Urbe Network and NonStop EuroTrip, whose channel will be linked in the card for their help with footage for this video. To understand the Shinkansen system, and what makes it so unique compared to other high-speed rail systems, it's valuable to understand the geography of Japan. Japan is made up of four main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Of which, all but Shikoku are currently served by the Shinkansen network. Japan's archaic cities are Yokohama, Kawasaki, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, and of course Tokyo, which I have a dedicated explainer video on. Japan is an attractive country for high-speed rail because it's essentially linear and many of the biggest cities in Honshu are fairly close together. Tokyo is far and away the biggest city in Japan, and is the hub for all Shinkansen services. Despite this, only two high-speed tracks run into central Tokyo from both sides. The reason for this? The Japanese mainline network is built using narrow gauge tracks, which aren't suitable for high speeds, and so when the Shinkansen network was created, standard gauge was used instead, alongside 25,000V AC overhead power, that isn't widely used in Japan and was much less common internationally at the time. In fact, Shinkansen literally means New Trunk Line, so the Shinkansen was built in a way that made it incompatible with almost all other railways in the country. This meant that trains and the network itself grew over the years in a way that prioritized service, but not intercapatibility, and this allowed for different standards to develop from the rest of the railways in the country. At the same time, high-frequency service was a key piece of the puzzle, as the Shinkansen network was arguably needed more for capacity than it was for speed. Because of the high frequency of service, which is up to every 3 minutes on the busiest route at the busiest times, making it possibly the most intensive high-speed rail service in the world, and significant infrastructure, with stations built for 16-car 400-meter trains plunged by European and international standards, service has mostly been able to keep up with demand over the years, and now plans are moving forward for at least one more route into Tokyo. The existing Shinkansen system is essentially a giant Y, with Tokyo at the center. The first line to be constructed on the congested Tokyo Nagoya Osaka route was the 515-kilometer Tokaido Shinkansen, which was to hopefully relieve congestion on the Tokaido mainline and to be open in time for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This route now forms the backbone of the Shinkansen network and is the most used segment, filled with iconic white N700 series trains. The Tokaido Shinkansen for the most part has two tracks like other Shinkansen lines, though most through stations typically have four in order to either allow for faster express services to pass or to have spaces for additional platforms, with major stations like Tokyo and Osaka having even more platforms. The fastest service type known as the Nozomi is now able to travel between Tokyo and Osaka in just two and a half hours, making just four stops at Shinagawa, Yokohama, Nagoya, and Kyoto at a top speed of 285 kilometers per hour. Being the first country to start building truly modern high-speed rail lines and having a frequently mountainous and heavily developed geography, Japan made some rather distinctive technical choices. For one, the grades on the system are not particularly steep on the oldest lines, at a maximum of 2%, likely influenced by Japan's terrain and preference to minimize impacts on rural areas. This is especially surprising because unlike some other countries like say France, Japan has never used locomotive hauled high-speed trains. All of the trains are multiple units. The system also heavily uses tunnels and elevated viaducts, including traveling elevated right into major cities like Tokyo and Osaka. On many segments of the network, you are constantly traveling into and out of tunnels. Now, despite the extreme speeds and ridership, there has never been a deadly crash on the system, which uses Japan's offshore earthquake early warning system to stop trains automatically in the case of a large enough earthquake. At the same time, unlike most high-speed rail systems, a significant number of stations on the Shinkansen network feature platform gates. Continuing west of Osaka, we enter the Sanyo Shinkansen, which opened in 1972 and runs 550 kilometers from Osaka to Fukuoka in Kyushu, stopping on the way at Okoyama and Hiroshima. The Sanyo Shinkansen operates at a maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour, with some services continuing directly from the Tokaido Shinkansen. I do have to mention that the fastest looking high-speed trains in the world, the needle-like 500 series are used on the Sanyo Shinkansen, although ironically, these are on what are actually the slowest Shinkansen services. Traveling south from Fukuoka is the Kyushu Shinkansen that opened in phases starting in 2004. This line has a length of 257 kilometers and a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour, and runs south from Fukuoka south to Kagoshima, with some through services from Osaka running the entire length. Transfer is however required for travel from the Kyushu Shinkansen to Tokyo. In 2022, the second leg of the Kyushu Shinkansen opened, known as the Nishi Kyushu, which terminates in Nagasaki. However, it currently operates as an isolated service to Takeo Onsen, requiring transfer to a narrow gauge rail service for onward journeys. The Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen uses six-car trains, also used on other services that don't leave Kyushu, much smaller than the 16 carsets used on the Tokaido corridor. Heading back to Tokyo and towards the north, we have the Tohoku Shinkansen, which opened across a number of phases starting in 1982, initially between Omiya and Morioka, and eventually extending to Aomori in the north and Ueno, and then Tokyo in the south. The Tohoku Shinkansen is a total of 675 kilometers long, making it the longest individual Shinkansen line in the country, and some sections have a top speed of up to 320 kilometers per hour, also the fastest in the country. Getting the line into Tokyo was no simple matter, as extensions south from Omiya are on a high viaduct and face backlash, especially as the line was not of great use to local residents. In response to this, the new shuttle, which I talked about in a previous video, was built hanging off of the side of the Shinkansen guideway to provide a travel option for local residents, which is just awesome. Actually getting the line into Tokyo still took years, with tracks weaving around existing ones approaching Ueno and a tunnel being used for much of the distance between Ueno and Tokyo Station. The Tohoku Shinkansen is also famous because of the significant amount of snow parts of the route get, and because of this, a number of design features were implemented, such as extra space for snow that accumulates on viaducts, heated rails and switches, hardened equipment to withstand being hit by snow blown off the tracks by high speed trains, and even hot water sprinklers to melt snow. Interestingly, there are two other services that use much of the Tohoku Shinkansen route, known as the two Mini Shinkansen lines. These are the Akita Shinkansen and the Yamagata Shinkansen. The Mini Shinkansen routes are traditional branch lines that have been modified with standard gauge tracks and 20,000 volt AC electrification, using special high speed trains that fit within the loading gauge of the legacy lines. These trains are the E6 on the Akita Shinkansen, and the E3 on the Yamagata Shinkansen, and they sort of remind me of trains in the UK with their bulbous shape. The Akita line is 127 kilometers long, while the Yamagata is 149 kilometers. Both have a top speed on legacy tracks of 130 kilometers per hour, and steeper maximum grades than on the rest of the network. While the legacy line speeds are not great, and these lines even feature single track and grade crossings, the convenience of a one seat trip to and from Tokyo is very attractive. E6 and E3 sets are coupled to standard sized 10 car Shinkansen trains until their branch points at Morioka and Fukushima respectively, and have special steps that are deployed on mainline stations to help passengers board. This provides additional capacity to points further south on the line. In 2016, the first phase of the new Hokkaido Shinkansen opened, traveling from Almore to Hakodate, over 149 kilometers of track, with a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour. The Hokkaido Shinkansen runs through the Saikan Tunnel, one of the world's longest undersea tunnels, running 54 kilometers from Honshu to Hokkaido. This tunnel first opened in 1988, over 20 years before the rest of the line, and was initially only used by narrow gauge trains. For the purposes of use by the Shinkansen, the tunnel was upgraded to dual gauge, so that both types of trains could operate, although Shinkansen trains are limited as the main tunnel carries both tracks in a single tube, and a high speed train could potentially impact a narrow gauge train while passing it. This means that higher speeds are only permitted when no narrow gauge trains are running, albeit lower than speeds outside of the tunnel. Service-wise, most trains from Hokkaido run through to Tokyo, however there are some that only run between Sendai and Almore. Beyond the mini Shinkansen and Hokkaido services, there are also two additional Shinkansen lines that feed into Tokyo from the north and share tracks with the Tohoku Shinkansen services south of Omiya. The first of these is the Joetsu Shinkansen, which runs from Omiya to Niigata, at a recently increased top speed of 275 kilometers per hour, and was opened in 1982. The Joetsu Shinkansen route is even more prone to heavy snowfall than the Tohoku Shinkansen, and also serves many ski resorts, and thus was the test site for many snow mitigation measures. The second is the Hokureku Shinkansen, which like the original Tokaido Shinkansen, opened in anticipation of an Olympic event, in this case the 1998 Games in Nagano, another major skiing destination, which was actually the line's original name and terminus, splitting from the Joetsu Shinkansen at Takasaki. These days, the line extends 346 kilometers northwest of Tokyo to Kanazawa, with trains hitting a maximum speed of 260 kilometers per hour. One of my favorite high-speed trains of all time, and one of the only double-decker high-speed EMUs ever, the E4 Shinkansen, previously operated on the Joetsu and Hokureku Shinkansen. However, this series of trains was retired in the last couple of years. Now, all Japanese bullet trains look rather unique compared to high-speed trains in other countries, those used on the Tohoku Shinkansen in particular look odd with their extremely long noses. This is actually to reduce the loud noise often heard when trains enter tight tunnels at high speeds, something which was necessary as this route has a particularly large number of tunnels, many of them long enough to have previously held records for length when they were opened. One of the most fascinating elements of the Japanese high-speed rail network is at Tokyo Station, and that's the fact that despite the Tohoku and Tokaido Shinkansen both serving this station at platforms that are right next to each other, there isn't actually a track connection between the lines, though it does appear that one could be built fairly easily, and no services actually through operate. One popular reason for justifying the lack of through operation is that the different lines actually operate with electricity at different frequencies, as Japan's power grid is famously split between 50 and 60 Hz. While this is a nice explanation, and it might even be a small factor, the more likely answer in the age of multi-power trains is the high variability in northbound train arrivals, where the number of branches and mini Shinkansen services combined with the high demand and frequency of Tokaido Shinkansen services makes through operation unattractive, and the fact that the two systems are operated by two separate companies means very different philosophies when it comes to operations. Amazingly, this means that 400 meter long train consists operating to the north managed to turn around every few minutes, despite there only being four terminating platforms at Tokyo Station, highlighting the incredible efficiency of the railway operation. Now, like most major transit systems, there was actually a planned Shinkansen line that was not built, the Narita Shinkansen. This line would have essentially been a fast airport rail link, built to coincide with the opening of Narita Airport, roughly 60 km east of Tokyo Station. Portions of the route were built, but as with the link from Omiya South towards Tokyo, as well as Narita Airport itself, there were significant protests from local residents, which in this case actually led to the project being cancelled. Infrastructure built for the project is now used by the Kasei Narita Sky Access Line. Now, what I actually find really surprising is just how aggressively the Japanese high speed rail network is actually being expanded, with a number of projects in various states as of early 2023. For one, extensions of both the Hokkaido and Hoku Riku Shinkansen are under construction. The Hokkaido Shinkansen extension to Sapporo is set to open in 2030, while the Hokka Riku Shinkansen extension to Tsuruga is set to open in 2024. There are also plans to extend the Hokka Riku Shinkansen to Osaka via Kyoto in the future. And while work isn't currently happening, connecting the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen to the main Kyushu Shinkansen would be rather simple as far as future projects go, with a link via Saga being only about 50 km through mostly low lying areas where viaduct construction should be fairly simple, although there isn't a lot of local interest in Saga itself for this line. There is also talk of a potential new base tunnel on the Yamagata Shinkansen, which would enable some higher speed operation and cut travel times on the route by up to 10 minutes. Of course, probably the most interesting project happening is the Chuo Shinkansen, a new 286 km inland high speed route between Shinagawa Station in Tokyo and Nagoya, and eventually Kyoto and Osaka in later phases. This project will largely be in tunnels traveling under mountains in central Japan, with the vast majority of the route being underground, including the terminal at Shinagawa. The first phase is meant to open sometime around 2030, though of course that's probably going to be delayed, with the extension to Osaka likely to not be open until the late 2030s at the earliest. What makes the project most famous though is that it's going to use Japanese developed high speed maglep technology, with a top speed of a little over 500 km per hour, which alongside a more direct route between Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka will allow for a 40 minute journey to Nagoya and just over an hour to get from Tokyo to Osaka, versus 2.5 right now. The technology used for the maglev is really unique, with a tub-like track that trains operate and running on rubber wheels at low speed and only levitating at high speed, as well as switches that operate more like those on a monorail. On the train there is no cab for driving, and instead cameras are used, and perhaps most interestingly, boarding from stations will be via a jet bridge-like device that will extend out to the train. While all of this seems quite out there, testing for the technology has been going on for decades at this point, and if anywhere can justify an even faster means of land transportation and actually build it, it's probably Japan. Japan also has had some success exporting its high speed rail technology. Taiwan for example uses 700 series shinkansen-derived trains on its high speed rail system, albeit oddly built with European track and right-of-way design standards. China also based its CRH2 high speed train on the Japanese E2 shinkansen, and numerous Japanese firms were instrumental in helping China develop its high speed rail system and standards, which from the heavy use of viaducts to the train designs are clearly influenced by Japan. Japan is also helping India to build its first high speed rail corridor from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, which will use trains similar to the H5 series used on the Tohoku Shinkansen, but adapted to the local climate. Now despite the limited number of other countries who have built high speed rail using Japanese technology, what is clear is that the shinkansen network has had a massive influence on other countries' high speed rail networks, as well as a huge positive influence on Japan itself. The system has clearly enabled a level of travel flexibility that is unrivaled in most countries, even on high speed rail. It is very much possible to show up to a station 15 minutes before departure of an intercity train, grab a ticket, and then head to your platform and get on board without any long waits or painful security screening. Service is fast and punctual, and the trains themselves are very nice, both inside and out. The high frequency of this service and the variety of service patterns mean to some extent the shinkansen enables rapid travel across large metropolitan areas, such as from Kyoto to Osaka or Kawasaki to Tokyo, as well as super commuting, which is a less positive, albeit in-declined trend. The network is also always improving. The Joetsu and Tokaido Shinkansans started operations at lower top speeds, and were eventually upgraded, largely in the form of structural improvements and improved sound deadening to enable higher operating speeds. And the same is going on the Tohoku Shinkansen to raise parts of the route to 360 km per hour, among the fastest in the world, and valuable on what is a very long route. The Shinkansen network has also managed to significantly reduce flights within Japan, as three-hour downtown-to-downtown travel times are the tipping point where rail begins to start majorly eating into air mode share, and at two hours flights just stop making any sense. You can actually see the impact of this beautifully visualized by the number of flights between various Japanese cities, which dramatically fall as the Shinkansen travel times become only a few hours. Between Tokyo and Fukuoka, with a five-hour travel time on the Shinkansen, air travel is still very much the dominant mode. However, as this time comes down to two and a half hours for Tokyo to Osaka, the Shinkansen overwhelmingly takes over the mode share, and at one hour and 40 minutes between Tokyo and Nagoya, flight options are extremely limited. Probably the most unique element of the Shinkansen network is the unique topology and design approach of a linear corridor built to different standards than the rest of the rail network, built to enable fast travel by large numbers of passengers. While in Europe, this approach seems to be questionable, as fairly good legacy lines often exist, even if only for final stretches into city centers. But for countries in the Americas and other parts of the world, with some existing intercity rail networks, it might be worth considering whether a series of new trunk lines would be a better approach when compared to trying to upgrade very dated legacy infrastructure and alignments. If anything is clear, it's that Japan has the world's most unique and probably most efficient high-speed rail system, and it's certainly one that every other country could stand to learn from. Thanks for watching.