Shinkansen

The Shinkansen (Japanese: ???) is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. The first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, was opened in 1964. The network has since expanded to link most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu with running speeds of up to 300 km/h.

List of Shinkansen lines

The main Shinkansen lines are:

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• Tokaido Shinkansen (Tokyo-Shin-Osaka)
• Sanyo Shinkansen (Shin-Osaka-Hakata)
• Tohoku Shinkansen (Tokyo-Hachinohe)
• Joetsu Shinkansen (Omiya-Niigata)
• Hokuriku Shinkansen or Nagano Shinkansen (Takasaki-Nagano)
• Kyushu Shinkansen (Shin-Yatsushiro-Kagoshima-Chuo)

Two further lines, known as Mini-Shinkansen (ミニ新幹線), have also been constructed by upgrading existing sections of line:

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• Yamagata Shinkansen (Fukushima-Shinjo)
• Akita Shinkansen (Morioka-Akita)

There are two standard gauge not technically classified as Shinkansen lines but with Shinkansen services:

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• Hakata Minami Line (Hakata-Hakata-Minami)
• Gala-Yuzawa Line - technically a branch of the Joetsu Line - (Echigo-Yuzawa-Gala-Yuzawa)

The following lines are under development:

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• Tohoku Shinkansen (under construction, Hachinohe-Shin-Aomori)
• Hokuriku Shinkansen (under construction, Nagano-Kanazawa)(under development, Kanazawa-Osaka)
• Kyushu Shinkansen (under construction, Hakata-Shin-Yatsushiro)(under development, Shin-Tosu-Nagasaki)
• Hokkaido Shinkansen (under construction, Shin-Aomori-Shin-Hakodate)(under development, Shin-Hakodate-Sapporo
• Chuo Shinkansen (maglev, under development, Tokyo-Osaka)
• Taiwan High Speed Rail (under construction, a railway using Shinkansen technology in the Republic of China)

Most Shinkansen lines that were proposed during the boom of the early 1970s have been postponed indefinitely. These include a link to Shikoku by the Honshu-Shikoku bridge system, a link from Shinjuku to Omiya (part of the Joetsu Shinkansen), and a route covering the entire Sea of Japan coast of Honshu. However, the Narita Shinkansen is the only line which has been officially removed from planning.

Related Topics:
Shikoku - Honshu-Shikoku bridge system - Shinjuku - Omiya - Joetsu Shinkansen - Sea of Japan - Narita Shinkansen

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