Super fast new bullet train starts service on Tohoku line

VOX POPULI: As life picks up speed, so do the bullet trains we love

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of the vernacular Asahi Shimbun.

2011/03/06

Boasting a speed of 270 kph, the "Nozomi" Shinkansen bullet train began operations 19 years ago between the Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations. Shunzo Miyawaki (1926-2003), a pioneer rail travel writer, recalled his first ride: "I was used to Shinkansen trains, so I could tell the Nozomi had smashed the traditional speed limit. I felt hard, jolting rolls of the kind I'd never experienced before."

Miyawaki rode the older "Hikari" bullet train on his homeward journey. "The train was running at its normal speed of 210 kilometers, but it felt like it was slowing down. That's not good."

As a train buff and travel writer, Miyawaki likely felt great excitement mixed with a disappointment stemming from the realization that the pure pleasure he used to derive from travel had somewhat diminished.

On Saturday, the new, 300-kph "Hayabusa" made its debut on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line, cutting travel time between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori stations to 3 hours and 10 minutes. Two years from now, it will take five minutes less to travel the same distance, when the train's speed increases to 320 kph. Faster travel means passengers can have more flexibility in planning their trips in exchange for spending less time sitting back and relaxing in their Shinkansen seats.

A week from now, the Kagoshima route of the Kyushu Shinkansen service will become fully operational. The "Mizuho" train will connect Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima Chuo stations in 3 hours and 45 minutes. With the Shinkansen network thus covering 2,000-plus kilometers between Aomori in the north and Kagoshima in the south, it will become possible to travel that entire distance in about 10 hours.

Miyawaki cited various classic travelogues, including the early 19th-century comic masterpiece "Tokaidochu Hizakurige," in arguing that the worth of any journey lies mainly in the process--looking out train windows, eating "ekiben" box lunches bought from vendors at the stations, chatting with fellow travelers or total strangers, and so on. Travel, he stressed, is about doing these things, not just getting from Point A to Point B.

Facing stiff competition from airlines, Japan's trains are getting faster and faster. Train operators have practically made an art form of ensuring that their trunk-line trains run on schedule despite extremely crowded timetables. However, this is making it increasingly harder to enjoy travel for travel's sake.

In my heart, I would love to be able to keep on appreciating the pleasure of riding a slow train that stops at every little station along the way. After all, life is one long journey.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 5

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

2011/03/06

The first E5 Series Hayabusa super express train rolls out of Tokyo Station bound for Shin-Aomori Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line on Saturday. (Yuta Takahashi)Crowds of railroad enthusiasts pack the platform at Tokyo Station to get a glimpse of the first E5 model new Hayabusa super express train arriving from Shin-Aomori. (Yuta Takahashi)

Railway fans packed Tokyo Station on Saturday to watch the first runs of the sleek E5 Series bullet train on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line.

The new Hayabusa super express trains, characterized by their bill-shaped noses, are designed to attain new levels of speed and comfort.

The first Shin-Aomori bound train left Tokyo Station at 8:19 a.m., about seven minutes behind schedule. The delay was caused by the excitement of railroad enthusiasts on the platform, which caused one man in his 60s to fall onto the tracks below, according to East Japan Railway Co., which operates the line.

He was rescued unhurt and the train was waved off in style on its maiden voyage.

Traveling at a maximum 300 kph, the trains will connect Tokyo Station with Shin-Aomori station, 675 km away, in 3 hours and 10 minutes, shaving 10 minutes off the standard Hayate service.

The new Hayabusa trains will make two round trips a day between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori stations, and one round trip between Tokyo and Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture.

From March 2013, the train is expected to reach a maximum speed of 320 kph.

The trains are equipped with sophisticated technology to reduce noise and vibration.

The trains will also boast first-class coaches, a first for Shinkansen services. A one-way ticket in the exclusive Grand Class coach, which has just 18 seats, sells for 26,320 yen ($320). So eager were some to ride in the luxury coach on the train's first run that one ticket was auctioned for a whopping 385,000 yen ($4,675) online.