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.

Safety

There have been no passenger fatalities associated with operation of the Shinkansen. There have however been injuries and one fatality due to doors closing on passengers or their belongings, but attendants are on hand at each platform to ensure that these are resolved before operation begins. There have been suicides by passengers jumping both from and in front of moving trains. This has resulted in some stations installing barriers preventing passengers from accessing the tracks, although an incident on January 9, 1999 in Nagano station showed that even these would not stop determined suicides: a man climbed over a safety barrier to be hit by a nonstop service.

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There is an earthquake detection system that can bring the train to a stop very quickly if an earthquake is detected. During the Chuetsu earthquake in October 2004 a Shinkansen very close to the epicenter was derailed by the earthquake, but with no passenger injuries. The next generation of trains (FASTECH 360) will have ear-like air resistance braking flaps to assist with stopping in the event of an earthquake being detected.

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