How did the Shinkansen bullet train change the world?

The Shinkansen bullet train, launched 60 years ago, has revolutionized high-speed transportation not only in Japan but also in many other countries around the world.

Sixty years ago, in the early morning of October 1, 1964, a sleek blue and white train whizzed through the Tokyo metropolitan area. The raised tracks carried the train south toward the city of Osaka. It was the dawn of Japan's "bullet train" era , seen as a symbol of the country's remarkable recovery from World War II. Along with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the technological marvel of the 1960s marked Japan's return to global power status, according to CNN .

In the six decades since its first train, the Shinkansen, which means 'new artery ,' has become synonymous with speed, efficiency, and international modernity. Japan remains a leader in rail technology, with major corporations such as Hitachi and Toshiba exporting billions of dollars worth of trains and equipment around the world each year.

Bullet trains run on elevated tracks in central Tokyo. (Photo: AFP).

The Shinkansen network has expanded steadily since the 515km-long Tokaido Line connecting Tokyo with Shin-Osaka was completed in 1964. Trains run at speeds of around 322km/h on lines radiating from the capital Tokyo, heading north, south and west to cities such as Kobe, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Nagano.

Not only a symbol of renaissance , the Shinkansen has also been used as a tool for Japan's continued economic growth and an agent of change in a traditionally conservative country . The development of the bullet train is linked to Japan's early railway history. Instead of the 143.5 cm track spacing used in North America and much of Europe, Japan opted for a narrower 106.7 cm track spacing. Although this option was cheaper to build and easier to install in mountainous terrain, capacity was limited and speeds were very low.

With Japan's four main islands stretching nearly 3,000km from one end of the country to the other, journeys between major cities are long and tiring. In 1889, the journey from Tokyo to Osaka took 16.5 hours by train, down from the three weeks it had taken on foot a few years earlier. By 1965, the Shinkansen had shortened the journey to three hours and 10 minutes.

Demand for a standard gauge rail network began in the 20th century, but it was not until the 1940s that construction began on an ambitious project to connect Japan with Korea and Russia via tunnels beneath the Pacific Ocean. Defeat in World War II meant that plans for new railways were delayed until the mid-1950s, when Japan's economy was recovering strongly and travel between major cities became essential.

While much of the network serves the most populous region of Honshu, Japan's largest island, long undersea tunnels allow bullet trains to run hundreds of kilometers to Kyushu in the south and Hokkaido in the north. Japan's rugged terrain and diverse climate, from cold winters in the north to tropical humidity in the south, have made the country's engineers pioneers in finding solutions to new problems as they push the boundaries of rail technology.

One challenge is seismic activity . Japan is one of the most geologically unstable places on Earth, prone to earthquakes and tsunamis, and home to 10% of the world's volcanoes. That makes operating bullet trains safely much more difficult.

Despite the challenges, no passenger has ever been injured or killed by a derailment on the Shinkansen network in the history of the train. The next generation of bullet trains, called ALFA-X, is being tested at speeds of nearly 400 km/h, although its maximum service speed is only 362 km/h.

A distinctive feature of the ALFA-X and many other recent Shinkansen trains is the extremely long nose , designed not only to improve aerodynamics but also to eliminate the sonic boom caused by the 'piston effect' when the train enters a tunnel and squeezes the compression wave out the other end at supersonic speeds. This is a particular problem in densely populated urban areas, where Shinkansen track noise has long been a complaint. The ALFA-X test train also features new safety technology designed to reduce vibration, noise, and the risk of derailment during major earthquakes.

More than 10 billion passengers today travel by Shinkansen in comfort and high speed. The train's reliability and punctuality make high-speed transportation a daily activity and the choice of the majority. In 2022, more than 295 million people traveled by Shinkansen around Japan.

It is no surprise that many other countries have followed Japan's lead and built new high-speed rail lines over the past four decades. Perhaps the most famous example is France, which has operated the Train à Grand Vitesse (TGV) between Paris and Lyon since 1981. Like Japan, France has successfully exported technology to its neighbours, including Europe's longest high-speed rail network in Spain, as well as Belgium, South Korea, the UK and Morocco. France's TGV network has been hugely successful, cutting journey times over long distances between major cities in the country, creating more capacity and making high-speed travel affordable and accessible to the public.

Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia all now operate trains on routes connecting major cities, competing directly with airlines on domestic and international routes.

In the UK, the Eurostar runs from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. The closest thing to a bullet train for British passengers is the Hitachi-built Intercity Express, which uses Shinkansen technology, although it only runs at a maximum speed of 125 mph. Meanwhile, India and Thailand are planning to build extensive high-speed rail networks in their countries.

In recent years, China has developed the world's longest high-speed rail network, reaching nearly 45,000km by the end of 2023. More than just a means of transportation, these train lines crisscross the vast country, driving economic development. Drawing on technology from Japan and Western Europe, and then from its increasingly sophisticated domestic rail industry, China is quickly becoming a leader in high-speed rail. The country is developing a maglev train that can travel nearly 644km/h.

Japan has also been testing its own maglev since the 1970s and is building a 286km line between Tokyo and Nagoya. Scheduled to open in 2034, the line will extend to Osaka, cutting the journey time to 67 minutes.