Abstract: In 1964, the Tokaido Shinkansen started its operation between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka as the first highspeed railway in the world, running at speeds exceeding 200 km/h. It should be noted that, for more than 45 years since its inauguration, the Tokaido Shinkansen has kept a remarkable safety record with no death casualties of passengers and continued extremely punctual and stable operation in spite of its highly frequent train operation schedule. The start of the Tokaido Shinkansen was followed by the inauguration of the San-yo, Tohoku, Joetsu, and Hokuriku Line, and the total route length of the Shinkansen network has reached 2,000 km on 1997. More than 6 billion passengers have been transported thus far on this network. Currently, the extension work for the Shinkansen network is underway in the Tohoku, Hokuriku, and Kyushu areas. There is another high-speed train system developed in Japan. That is the magnetically levitated transport system (JR Maglev), a combination of superconducting magnets and linear motor technology. JR Maglev realizes super-high-speed running, safety, low environmental impact, and minimum maintenance. JR Maglev is a system in which the vehicle runs levitated from the guideway by using electromagnetic forces between superconducting magnets on board the vehicle and coils on the ground. The target transport capacity of JR Maglev is 10,000 people per hour one way. This capacity is sufficient for passengers travelling direct from Tokyo to Osaka. The social impacts of high-speed train projects in Japan are discussed in this paper from various points.
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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