Central Japan Railway Introduces New Bullet Trains on July 1

News in Asia
Central Japan Railway Introduces New Bullet Trains on July 1

According to the Japanese railway, a new bullet train model will start serving the Tokaido Shinkansen line on July 1, just in time for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The new N700S is the first model to be rolled out in the last five years. The N700 series trains have been in use on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines since 2007. They were developed jointly by JR Central and JR West. 

Five of new N700S trains will be introduced before the Games this summer with 40 more scheduled to start plying the regular routes by March 2023. Step by step, the new model will replace older 700 series trains, which have been in service for about 20 years.

N700 series trains have a maximum speed of 300 km/h. They accelerate with a maximum acceleration rate of 2.6 km/h/s gaining 270 km/h in only three minutes. The second revision of N700 series, N700S boasts several new security features. Four more surveillance cameras were added to the existing two in each carriage. To enable trains run even in the event of a power outage, each train is equipped with built-in lithium-ion batteries. 

It is not yet announced whether the introduction of the new trains will cut travel time – most probably yes, by several minutes. Currently, trains cover the 397 km between Tokyo and Osaka on a Nozomi run in 2 hours and 22 minutes on the fastest service.

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