Shinkansen high-speed train. High-speed Japanese trains: description, types and reviews

Exactly 50 years ago, in October 1964, the world's first high-speed train, the Shinkansen, was launched in Japan, capable of reaching speeds of up to 210 km/h and forever becoming one of the symbols of the “new” Japan and its growing economic power. The first line connected the two largest Japanese cities- Tokyo and Osaka, reducing the minimum travel time between them from 7.5 to 4 hours.

The Shinkansen train against the backdrop of Mount Fuji is one of the most recognizable landscapes of modern Japan:

Literally translated from Japanese the word "Shinkansen" means "new highway". Before the advent of high-speed trains, railways in Japan were narrow gauge (1067 mm), and had many bends due to the local terrain. On such roads the ability to reach high speeds was too limited. New lines were specially designed for the Shinkansen, already with a standard track width of 1435 mm.

Why Japan initially deviated from the international standard is still not entirely clear. It is believed that this was the decision of a certain Mr. Okubo, who was the person in charge at the time the construction of the first railway in Japan began. Of course, narrow gauge was cheaper, and the trains themselves were smaller and more economical to produce. However, at the same time this also meant less carrying capacity and low speed. Therefore, the feasibility of this decision for the Japanese remains a big question.
At the beginning of the 20th century, projects were proposed to rebuild the line according to international standards, and although there were many who supported this idea, it was decided instead to spend funds on building new directions. Thus, the narrow gauge spread throughout Japan, which still causes a lot of inconvenience.

Broad gauge supporters managed to bring their projects to life on the railway laid by the Japanese in the early 30s. in colonized Southern Manchuria. In 1934, between the cities of Dalian and Changchun (700 km), the legendary "Asia-Express", an indicative symbol of Japanese imperialist power at the time. Capable of reaching speeds of over 130 km/h, it was far superior to China's railway system at the time, and was even much faster than the fastest express train in Japan itself.
And on a global scale, Asia-Express had impressive characteristics. For example, the world's first air-conditioned carriages were equipped there. The dining car was equipped with refrigerators, and there was also a special carriage - an observation deck with windows along the entire perimeter, furnished with leather chairs and bookshelves.

This example probably became the final argument in favor of broad gauge and gave rise to the first high-speed rail projects in Japan. In 1940, the Japanese government approved a project of incredible scale. Even then, the project envisaged the creation of a train capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 km/h, but the Japanese government did not intend to limit itself to laying lines only on Japanese territory.
It was supposed to lay underwater tunnel to the Korean Peninsula and extend the route all the way to Beijing. Construction had already partially begun, but the outbreak of the war and the subsequent deterioration of Japan's military and political positions put an end to imperial ambitions. In 1943, the project was curtailed; the same year was the last for Asia-Express. However, some sections of the Shinkansen lines in operation today were built in the pre-war years.

They started talking about the construction of the Shinkansen again 10 years after the war. Rapid economic growth has created great demand for freight and passenger transportation throughout the country. However, the idea to revive the project turned out to be completely unpopular and was sharply criticized. At that time, there was a strong opinion that road and air transport would soon supplant railway transport, as happened, for example, in the USA and some European countries. The project was again in jeopardy.

In 1958, between Tokyo and Osaka, on a still narrow gauge, the direct ancestor of the Shinkansen, the Kodama business express, was launched. With a maximum speed of 110 km/h, it covered the distance between cities in 6.5 hours, making one-day business trips possible. In Japan, where business culture is based on face-to-face meetings, this was a very convenient solution. However, he did not serve very long. The incredible popularity of the Kodama left no one in any doubt about the need for high-speed lines, and less than a year later the government finally approved the Shinkansen construction project.

Kodama Business Express, 1958-1964:

It is widely believed that the launch of the Shinkansen was planned for the opening of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but the Japanese deny this. Construction of the Shinkansen lines began in March 1959, more than a month before Tokyo was chosen as the host city for the games. However, the Olympics came in handy. The initially announced budget for the construction of the Shinkansen was obviously too small and everyone knew about it, but to declare real numbers it was too risky. Credit allocated World Bank at a fairly low interest rate, did not cover even half of the expenses. The real cost, which ultimately exceeded the declared one by almost 2.5 times, was covered by “begging” money from the state, supposedly in order to be in time for the opening of the Olympics!

In the early morning of October 1, 1964, the ceremony of the first launch of the Shinkansen from a specially built platform number 19 took place at Tokyo Station. The platform was lavishly decorated with red and white ribbons and the traditional Japanese paper ball “kusudama”. The moving train tore the ribbons, the balloon opened and 50 snow-white doves flew out of it. Then there was music, fireworks and general rejoicing of thousands of Japanese who were not too lazy to attend such a significant event at 5 am. That evening, photographs of the Shinkansen appeared on the front pages of all major publications in the country under loud headlines announcing the start of new era in the history of Japan, and, why be modest, of the whole world.

Launching ceremony for the first Shinkansen. Tokyo, 1964

The feeling of national pride in the Shinkansen did not bypass any Japanese, and the emperor himself, they say, composed either a song or an ode about it.

In 1975, the queen of the country, the birthplace of the railway, visited Japan. It's about, of course, about England. The royal couple arrived on a friendly visit to the emperor, and one of the first items on the entertainment program was a trip on the “miracle train” to Kyoto. For Japan, this was a great opportunity to brag, but the cunning Japanese trade unions could not miss such a rare chance. Literally immediately upon the queen’s arrival, the workers staged the first strike in the history of the Japanese railway. In a word, all Shinkansen drivers, of which there were 1,100 people, refused to give the queen a ride until the union’s demands were met.

Naturally, the bosses, driven into a corner, quickly complied with the demands, but the queen only managed to take a ride on the Shinkansen on her way back. The series of failures did not end there. On the day the Queen was due to board the train, there was heavy rainfall and the train was late by a full 2 minutes. In general, whether it was possible to make an impression on Elizabeth II or not is unknown, but they say that she was not at all offended by the strike, but accepted everything with humor. She said that she herself is no stranger to strikes.

Shinkansen trains painted with protest paint:

Contrary to skeptical expectations, the Shinkansen train turned out to be incredibly successful and quickly recouped its construction costs. Just 8 years later the second line was opened. Already by 1981, the loan debt to the World Bank was completely covered. Moreover, today the Shinkansen train provides up to 80% of profits Japan Railways. There are currently 8 Shinkansen lines. total length almost 3000 km and they continue to be built.

Shinkansen train line diagram:

Of course, over the 50 years of its existence, the Shinkansen has gone through a considerable evolutionary path, although not always cloudless.

In the 80s 575 residents of the city of Nagoya, whose houses were located along the tracks, filed a lawsuit against the management of the Shinkansen, complaining of noise and strong vibrations. Immediately after this, technologies began to be introduced to reduce noise and vibration levels and improve the quality of the railway track. A rule was also introduced to slow down when driving through densely populated areas.

Today, Shinkansen are almost silent, the tracks often run in close proximity away from buildings without causing much discomfort. Energy saving technologies have become another step in development. And all because Japan, in which 99.7% of oil is imported (not from Russia), turned out to be very sensitive to repeated oil shocks. Thus, under the pressure of both external and internal factors in the person of the extremely demanding Japanese, the Shinkansen was rapidly improving. However, the very first model of the train remained unchanged until 1982, and even after the appearance of new models, it remained in operation until 2008.

In 1987, Japanese National Railways was privatized, replacing the state monopoly with 5 new independent companies. Healthy competition has given a new impetus to the development of technology and quality of service.

So-called “green cars” appeared on trains, comparable in level to business class on airplanes. Actually, airlines were and still remain the main competitors of the Shinkansen. These cars have become a kind of indicator of the economic situation in the country. In times of prosperity, many companies bought their employees seats in “green cars” for business trips, but when the economy declined, they were usually empty.

Now the interior of the car looks like this:

Tickets are available with or without a seat. In carriages without a seat, you may have to sit in the middle, but it’s cheaper.

Toilet:

There is a train diagram hanging at the station, so it’s immediately clear which car you need:

Everyone stands in neat queues to board. There are lines drawn on the platform for queues for each car:

The companies also competed in the delicacy of food on board. In general, eating bento in Shinkansen has become a kind of tradition, even if the journey takes only a couple of hours. They are sold both at stations and on the trains themselves. Each site has its own unique “bento”.
Until 2000, trains had dining cars and cafe cars, but the ever-increasing flow of passengers required more seating. Double-decker trains began to appear, but restaurants did not last long on them either. The same story affected private compartments, which could be a room for one or an entire conference room for 4-5 people. The economic downturn has almost completely destroyed the demand for such cars.

Traditional station bento lunch:

90s and the end of the bubble economy became the most unstable in the history of Shinkansen development. In addition, in 1995, an earthquake occurred in the Osaka area, and although the trains themselves were not damaged, the rails were significantly bent. It took about 3 months to recover. But there were also positive moments, such as the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, which created demand for new destinations!

Despite the slowdown in economic growth, throughout this time, new, more advanced train models invariably continued to appear. Began to be developed various systems safety, primarily for protection during earthquakes. Now, in the event of an earthquake, an automatic warning system is triggered, which slows down trains a split second before the shock. Thus, even during the devastating earthquake in 2011, not a single accident occurred with Shinkansen trains; they all stopped safely in automatic mode. By the way, the danger of earthquakes is one of the main reasons why trains run slower than they technically could.

Modern Shinkansen trains:

Cars on Shinkansen trains do not detach. That's why they don't have a tail, but they always have two heads! And trains can connect with each other:

By the way, red is cooler and faster, so it usually drags green along with it. The latest model came out just a couple of months ago, in March 2014.

There is another very special train. It's called "Doctor Yellow". They say that seeing him is very good omen. This is a special doctor who examines and checks the tracks and other related equipment for serviceability several times a month. During the day, it travels at the same speed as other trains, so as not to interfere. And at night he slowly and carefully examines all sections of the path.

Since the 2000s. Japanese Shinkansen technologies began to be actively exported abroad. Currently, in the Asian region, China, Taiwan and South Korea have high-speed trains. All of these countries, except Korea, have high-speed railways based on Japanese technology (Korea borrowed technology from the French TGV). Not only technologies are exported, but also decommissioned Japanese trains themselves.

Modern Shinkansen trains in Japan reach a maximum speed of 270 km/h, to next year it is planned to increase to 285 km/h, although test speeds reach more than 440 km/h. Travel time between Tokyo and Osaka is now less than 2.5 hours. The trains are equipped with everything necessary for a comfortable journey - clean toilets, smoking rooms, sockets at each seat, sometimes even vending machines with drinks.

The Tokaido Line (Tokyo–Osaka) is the busiest high-speed rail line in the world, carrying more than 150 million passengers annually. Trains from Tokyo depart every 10 minutes.

Despite enough high cost, the Shinkansken train does not lose popularity due to its accuracy, speed, comfort, high level of service, and most importantly, safety. In 50 years of service, not a single incident involving death or serious injury from a high-speed train has been recorded. No other country in the world can boast of such safety indicators for high-speed rail transport. Statistics claim that Sapsan killed more than 20 people in just the first year of its service.

Although the Japanese Shinkansen train remains one of the most advanced vehicles in the world, work on its improvement does not stop. Yamanashi Prefecture has a special research center, where new technologies are created and tested, in particular, JR-Maglev - a Japanese high-speed maglev train system. It was there in December 2003 that a test train of three cars of the MLX01 modification set an absolute speed record for railway transport - 581 km/h.

Asia and Europe are complete opposites. It is very difficult for a European to understand how an Asian builds his life, what he thinks about, what rules he obeys. But still, eastern countries attract tourists with their beauty and originality, and many Asian countries can boast high level life and new technologies introduced into the life of ordinary residents. Japan is especially interesting in this regard. Those who have had the pleasure of traveling around the Land of the Rising Sun will never be able to forget Japanese trains, covering many kilometers in literally a matter of minutes.

Japan is a country of high technology and patriarchal traditions

Japan is located in East Asia and occupies almost seven thousand islands. This geographical feature influences the entire way of life of the locals. The country's population of 127 million lives in large cities. Only less than five percent of all Japanese can afford to live outside the metropolis, and this division is very arbitrary. After all, in Japan it is difficult to find an area that would not be used for the benefit of the state. The Japanese are trying to build up every millimeter of land with various buildings; as a result, only coastal strips remain free, subject to periodic flooding.

But the Japanese have learned to deal with this misfortune; for many years now they have been moving deeper into Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, creating artificial islands. A severe shortage of available land forced Japan to develop a high-tech settlement program water areas, which has performed very well over the past decades.

Peculiarities Japanese life force the population to constantly move around the country. Every day, several thousand people travel from the suburbs to work at their offices located in Tokyo or Osaka. The Japanese high-speed train helps you avoid rush hour traffic and save time.

Shinkansen - high speed rail

For Russians, traveling by rail can hardly be called comfortable and fast. The average resident of our country, when going on vacation, tries to choose air transport. But in the Land of the Rising Sun, Japanese trains break all records for popularity and demand. This is a very special type of transport that can cover a distance of 600 kilometers in just a couple of hours.

High-speed trains and railways in Japan are called Shinkansen. Literally this name can be translated as “new main line”. Indeed, during the construction of this highway, the Japanese used a lot of new technologies and for the first time moved away from the traditional type of railway adopted in those days.

Now the Shinkansen connects almost all the cities of Japan; the length of the line is more than 27 thousand kilometers. Moreover, 75 percent of the railway track belongs to the largest company in Japan - Japan Railwais Group.

Japanese bullet train: first launch

The need for new railway lines arose in Japan before the eighteenth Summer Olympics. The fact is that until that time the railway track was a narrow-gauge railway. This fact did not meet international standards and significantly slowed down the development of the industry. Therefore, in 1964, the first Shinkansen line was launched, connecting Tokyo and Osaka. The length of the railway was just over 500 kilometers.

It is unknown what the future of Japanese high-speed trains will be, but one thing is certain now - they will be the fastest and most comfortable in the world. Otherwise, in Japan they simply don’t know how.

Aka magnetic levitation train, aka maglev from the English magnetic levitation ("magnetic levitation") - this is a magnetic levitation train, driven and controlled by force electromagnetic field. Such a train, unlike traditional trains, does not touch the rail surface during movement. Since there is a gap between the train and the running surface, friction is eliminated and the only braking force is aerodynamic drag. Maglev refers to monorail transport.

Monorail:

Hotchkiss (Arthur Hotchkiss) 1890s;
images from Wikipedia

images from Wikipedia

High-speed ground transport (HSNT) is called railway transport, which allows trains to travel at speeds in excess of 200 km/h (120 mph). Although at the beginning of the 20th century, trains traveling at speeds above 150-160 km/h were called high-speed.
Today, VSNT trains travel along specially designated railway tracks - a high-speed line (HSL), or on a magnetic levitation, along which the maglev shown above moves.

The first regular service of high-speed trains began in 1964 in Japan. In 1981, VSNT trains began running in France, and soon most of Western Europe, including the UK, was united into a single high-speed train. railway network. Modern high speed trains in operation they reach speeds of about 350-400 km/h, and in tests they can even accelerate to 560-580 km/h, such as the JR-Maglev MLX01, which set a speed record of 581 km/h during testing in 2003.
In Russia, the regular operation of high-speed trains, according to common paths with regular trains, started in 2009. And only by 2017 is the completion of the construction of Russia's first specialized high-speed railway line Moscow - St. Petersburg.

Sapsan Siemens Velaro RUS; maximum service speed - 230 km/h,
upgrade to 350 km/h possible; photo from Wikipedia

In addition to passengers, high-speed trains also transport cargo, for example: the French service La Poste has a fleet of special TGV electric trains for transporting mail and parcels.

The speed of “magnetic” trains, that is, maglev trains, is comparable to the speed of an airplane and allows them to compete with air transport on short- and medium-haul routes (up to 1000 km). Although the idea of such transport itself is not new, economic and technical limitations have not allowed it to fully develop.

At the moment, there are 3 main technologies for magnetic suspension of trains:

On superconducting magnets (electrodynamic suspension, EDS);
On electromagnets (electromagnetic suspension, EMS);
On permanent magnets; this is a new and potentially most cost-effective system.

The composition levitates due to the repulsion of identical magnetic poles and, conversely, attraction of opposite poles. The movement is carried out by a linear motor located either on the train, on the track, or both. A major design challenge is the heavy weight of sufficiently powerful magnets, since a strong magnetic field is required to maintain the massive composition in the air.

Advantages of Maglev:

theoretically the highest speed that can be achieved on public (non-sports) ground transport;
great prospects for achieving speeds many times higher than those used in jet aviation;
low noise.

Disadvantages of Maglev:

high cost of creating and maintaining a track - the cost of building one kilometer of maglev track is comparable to digging a kilometer of metro tunnel using a closed method;
the electromagnetic field created may be harmful to train crews and surrounding residents. Even traction transformers used on electrified alternating current railways oh, harmful for drivers. But in in this case The field strength is an order of magnitude greater. It is also possible that Maglev lines will not be available to people using pacemakers;
Standard gauge tracks, rebuilt for high-speed traffic, remain accessible to regular passenger and commuter trains. The high-speed Maglev route is not suitable for anything else; will be required additional paths for low speed communication.

The most active developments of maglev are carried out by Germany and Japan.

*Help: What is Shinkansen?
Shinkansen is the name of the high-speed railway network in Japan, designed to transport passengers between major cities in the country. Owned by Japan Railways. The first line opened between Osaka and Tokyo in 1964, the Tokaido Shinkansen. This line is the busiest high-speed rail line in the world. It carries about 375,000 passengers daily.

"Bullet Train" is one of the names for Shinkansen trains. Trains can have up to 16 cars. Each carriage reaches a length of 25 meters, with the exception of the head carriages, which are usually slightly longer. The total length of the train is about 400 meters. The stations for such trains are also very long and specially adapted for these trains.

Shinkansen trains series 200~E5; photo from Wikipedia

In Japan, maglevs are often called "riniaka" (Japanese: リニアカー), derived from the English "linear car" due to the linear motor used on board.

JR-Maglev uses electrodynamic suspension with superconducting magnets (EDS), installed both on the train and on the track. Unlike German system Transrapid, JR-Maglev does not use a monorail design: trains run in a channel between magnets. This design makes it possible to reach higher speeds, ensure greater passenger safety in the event of evacuation, and ease of operation.

Unlike electromagnetic suspension (EMS), trains using EDS technology require additional wheels when traveling at low speeds (up to 150 km/h). When a certain speed is reached, the wheels are separated from the ground and the train “flies” at a distance of several centimeters from the surface. In the event of an accident, the wheels also allow the train to stop more smoothly.

For braking in normal mode, electrodynamic brakes are used. For emergencies, the train is equipped with retractable aerodynamic and disc brakes on the bogies.

Ride in maglev with a top speed of 501 km/h. The description states that the video was made in 2005:

Several trains with in different forms nose cone: from the usual pointed to almost flat, 14 meters long, designed to get rid of the loud bang that accompanies a train entering a tunnel at high speed. The maglev train can be completely computer controlled. The driver monitors the operation of the computer and receives an image of the track through a video camera (the driver's cabin does not have forward viewing windows).

The JR-Maglev technology is more expensive than a similar development by Transrapid, implemented in China (line to Shanghai airport), since it requires large expenses for equipping the route with superconducting magnets and laying tunnels in the mountains using an explosive method. The total cost of the project could be US$82.5 billion. If the line were laid along the Tokaido coastal highway, it would require less cost, but would require the construction of a large number of short-length tunnels. Despite the fact that the magnetic levitation train itself is silent, each entry into the tunnel at high speed will cause a bang comparable in volume to an explosion, so laying the line in densely populated areas is impossible.

I looked at the capsule hotel almost immediately upon arrival in Tokyo, and took a high-speed train a little later from Tokyo to ancient capital Japan - Kyoto.

These high-speed trains are also called "Bullet train", from English "bullet train", they depart from Tokyo Station, in the Japanese capital, and cover almost all of Japan with a wide network. Japan built its first high-speed train back in 1964, and now the length of the Shinkansen high-speed railway network is about 2,500 kilometers. They cover with their network the main Japanese island of Honshu, the southern island of Kyushu, and underwater high-speed routes are already being built to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

In Tokyo, I lived at Shinagawa Station - this is a large transport hub, and the “bullet train” made a short stop there in just 1.5 minutes. Tokyo is a densely populated city and Japanese bullet trains operate with short stops at the city's most important transport hubs and at major intermediate stations between cities. Japan is industrially developed quite evenly and there is life here too in the suburbs, people live, work and move around. It is clear that in Russia, it is not clear why and where the high-speed Sapsan stops on the way from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

Shinagawa Railway Station Pavilion.

I was traveling by train from Tokyo to Kyoto, it was an early crossing and in the morning all the Japanese were rushing to work. At the station it was very difficult to squeeze through the crowd of “robots” trying to make it in time for the “first bell.” Indeed, the population density in Tokyo is enormous, even with their extensive transport network, in the morning “biomass traffic jams” occur at stations.