Railways in Japan
Japan Railways
• Railways in Japan include
Japan Railways (JR), a
group of six railway
companies covering the
entire country, plus a
variety of companies,
which operate in many
larger cities.
Japan Railways
Japan Railways
• JR is famous for its extreme
punctuality. On the Tokyo
commuter lines trains run
through the stations at 1.5minute intervals at peak times.
And of course its Shinkansen or
“Bullet Trains” provide ultra
fast and highly reliable rail links
over all the length of Japan.
Shinkansen or “Bullet Trains”
Shinkansen or “Bullet Trains”
Japan Railways
• The history of railways in
Japan dates back to 1872,
when the first 29 km line
was officially opened for
public use between Tokyo
and Yokohama. Its
construction was
completed under the
guidance of British
engineers.
Japan Railways
•
After the WWII Japan considerably
increased railway traffic on trunk
lines. Soon, the main line between
Tokyo and Kobe well as other
principal trunk lines started double
tracking to enlarge the track capacity.
To meet the necessity of speeding up
the running of trains, technical
improvements were carried out. On
the main trunk lines the top speed of
the trains was increased from 60
km/h to 95 km/h, the speed of
electric trains being raised to 120
km/h.
Japan Railways
•
With the development of aviation
and motor transport railways are
losing their monopolistic position in
the field of transportation in Japan.
However, the New Tokaido Line,
which was opened to high-speed
traffic between Tokyo and Ship-Osaka
in 1964, showed the great
advantages of railways for longdistance transportations. The
opening of the so-called Shinkansen
railway in 1964 was an event of great
importance in the country’s railway
history.
Japan Railways
• The opening of the so-called
Shinkansen railway in 1964 was
an event of great importance in
the country’s railway history.
• The Shinkansen line was built as
the Tokaido line had been
overburdened with passenger
and freight trains. This new line
for super-high-speed trains is 553
km long and has the 1,435 mm
gauge. Train sets of 16 cars run at
the top speed of 210 km/h.
Japan Railways
• Pioneering the modern
high-speed train in the
1960s, Japanese railway
engineers have
contributed to develop
and refine rolling stock
for the country’s
Shinkansen high-speed
rail network.
Japan Railways
• One of the most recent types
is the Series “700 train set”
which was jointly developed
by two of Japan’s private rail
companies. The Series “700” is
based on the experience
gained with earlier Series
“300” and “500” train sets,
creating new design offering
the highest standards of
performance, comfort,
reliability and maintainability.
Japan Railways
• With 16 cars, the Series
“700” are high-capacity
trains, each providing
seating for 1,323 passengers
in a mixture of the first and
second-class
accommodation. Comfort
improvements include an
increased ceiling height
compared with earlier
Shinkansen train sets.
Japan Railways
• The Japanese National
Railways pay great attention to
the development of automatic
signalling and computer-based
information processing
systems as well. The
Automatic Train Control
System is widely used by
Japanese railways providing
the most modern trains safety
at very high speeds.