Happy 50th birthday, Shinkansen!

[railsquid]

Here's to the next 50 years.

 

I'll give my 0-kei a special outing today.

[Densha]

There's also a website (only Japanese though): http://shinkansen50.jp/

[railsquid]

An article from The Guardian (UK): "How the Shinkansen bullet train made Tokyo into the monster it is today".

 

Seems to be suffering from the usual half-hearted fact-checking; for example they claim a "large portion of the Shinetsu Honsen closed down; local residents who relied on it had to use cars or buses" after the Nagano Shinkansen was opened.

[Sacto1985]

In many ways, the Shinkansen was a one of the greatest engineering gambles of the 20th Century.

 

At the time the development began in earnest in the late 1950's, just about no passenger trains could travel as fast as 160 km/h (100 mph) on a regular basis. SNCF's Le Mistral came close, and Santa Fe's Super Chief could sometimes come very close to 160 km/h on the straighter stretches of Santa Fe track in Kansas. Even trickier was to design the train as an electrical multiple unit (EMU) train, something definitely not done before. The engineering challenges were huge, especially with figuring out how to smooth out both up and down and side to side motion of the trainset; they ended up with a special suspension system that could do both, and that made it possible to achieve an amazing 230 km/h (143 mph) top speed on the (then) test track east of Odawara (that test track is now part of the Tokaidō Shinkansen line).

 

In the end, the Shinkansen literally changed Japan. Trips between Tokyo and Osaka that used to take six hours one-way on the Kodama train running on the Tokaidō Main Line tracks now took just over three hours by 1965, and as a result the way businesses operated between Tokyo and Osaka also tremendously changed, too. (It likely helped Kyoto and Nagoya boom economically, since all Shinkansen trains stopped at these two cities.) And when the San'yō Shinkansen line opened fully in 1975, cities like Okayama, Hiroshima and Fukuoka really benefited, too.

 

In many ways, the very success of Shinkansen revived interest in passenger train travel. It certainly inspired SNCF to develop the TGV/LGV network in France, which in turn finally made it viable for the Channel Tunnel with its Eurostar service (now only 2 hours 15 minutes between downtown London and downtown Paris). And China developed its extensive China Rail High-speed (CRH) network modeled on what the Shinkansen achieved.

 

In the early 20th Century, the Pennsylvania Railroad declared itself the "Standard Railroad of the World." That phrase in a way should now apply to the Shinkansen, the passenger high-speed rail system hat is pretty much the reference standard every other high-speed rail system around the world compares itself to.

[Shinkansenrailfan]

Pretty sure the new technology of the MagLev will change the world like how the Shinkansen did exactly 50 years ago!

 

I'm going to get excited over 3 more events coming soon!

 

Tokyo Station's 100th Anniversary - 14 December 2014. (If I can go to Japan , I will be able to see their 100th anniversary just before I return home from my holiday)

 

Sanyo Shinkansen 40th anniversary - March 2015

 

Hokuriku Shinkansen Opening - 14 March 2015

[Sacto1985]

That's right! 10 March 2015 is the 40 Anniversary of the full opening of the San'yo Shinkansen line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata Stations. I'm sure JR West is planning celebrations for that date.

[Densha]

Two interesting articles with some (history) facts I didn't yet know about:

http://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00078/

http://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00077/

 

And the Japanese Ministry of Finance will also issue five types of Shinkansen 100 yen coins. Pretty cool.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201410010019

Not really related, but it reminded me of the Dutch 5 euro coin with Japanese characters and stuff on it because of the celebration of 400 years trade relations with Japan.

[JR 500系]

Wished I could get my hands on those coins. They look really good as a collection!

 

Hokuriku Shinkansen opens in March next year, which means good news to cut down travel time from Nagano to Toyama for my Tateyama route, using the Kagayaki serive (covered by JR Pass), instead of using the Shirasagi service!

[westfalen]

I would have liked one of the 1000 Yen coins but it doesn't look they will be available outside Japan.

http://www.mint.go.jp/coin/shinkansen_1000.html

[Shinkansenrailfan]

That's right! 10 March 2015 is the 40 Anniversary of the full opening of the San'yo Shinkansen line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata Stations. I'm sure JR West is planning celebrations for that date.

Isn't that for the Okayama-Hakata section instead? The Shin-Osaka - Okayama Section opened in 1972.

 

Wished I could get my hands on those coins. They look really good as a collection!

 

Hokuriku Shinkansen opens in March next year, which means good news to cut down travel time from Nagano to Toyama for my Tateyama route, using the Kagayaki serive (covered by JR Pass), instead of using the Shirasagi service!

Sadly , they won't be available in Singapore and are hard to get from Japanese Banks.

 

Yes. If I get to go to Japan next year , I would also try to take Kagayaki! At least I can finally have easier access to Takayama as well as Kanazawa and Toyama , as well as Tateyama , as you've mentioned. I wouldn't have to take a Shinkansen to Nagoya and transferring again.

[speedie]

One of my favorite car sites, Japanese Nostalgic Car, ran a nice 50th Birthday article on its blog

 

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/2014/10/01/omedetou-shinkansen-the-bullet-train-turns-50/

[cteno4]

Nice article, thanks

 

Jeff

[katoftw]

This gave me a good chuckle.

 

During a 1964 test run — a televised event with much fanfare — the 0 Series famously outran the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) news helicopters and blew the socks off spectators on location and in front of the television.

 

Edited October 4, 2014 by katoftw

[Sacto1985]

katoftw, we forget that in 1964, the original Shinkansen trainsets were already capable of 230 km/h (143 mph) on certain straight/gently curved stretches of track (e.g., between Mishima and Shizuoka Stations). As such, they could easily outrun the contemporary helicopters of the day.

[Sacto1985]

By the way, here are videos taken during 1 October 2014 celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Shinkansen with special dedications starting the first service of the day:

 

First Nozomi service leaving Tokyo Station:

 

 

First Nozomi service leaving Shin-Osaka Station for Tokyo:

 

 

First Kodama service leaving Shizuoka Station for Tokyo:

 

 

First Hikari service leaving Nagoya Station for Tokyo: