Type N700 bullet train is Japan's fastest yet

The Type N700, a new bullet train developed by Central Japan Railway and West Japan Railway is being touted as the fastest ever, reaching speeds of up to 186mph (the previous high-water mark was 168.5mph), and making the trek from Tokyo to Osaka in about two hours and 25 minutes (a whopping 5 minutes faster than the previous model). The N700 is the first bullet train revamp since 1999's Type 700, and uses a new form of Automatic Train Control (or ATC) to govern the train's speed and stability during curves in the track. Additionally, the N700 boasts a 30% increase in acceleration, which reduces the amount of time it takes to reach its maximum speed. Truth be told, it all seems like a lot of money and trouble for an extra 5 minutes -- if these cats really wanted to step up their game, they should speak with the French.

[Paul @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:08AM]

5 minute increments add up.

[TH @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:35AM]

Paul's right, it adds up.

And the essential thing here is that they've introduced new technology and pushed the envelope a bit. And about the French: while they are doing a great job with their TGV:s, and I definitely wouldn't belittle their achievement in getting that speed record, we have to remember that it was a one-off stunt with a specially modified train - the improvements we see from the Japanese here are measured from actual train in regular passenger service, on the maiden voyage it carried 1300(!) passengers.

For comparison, while the experimental TGV managed 357 mph top speed, their fastest scheduled service (Lyon - Aix-en-Provence) reached a record in 2005, running at an average speed of 163 mph and reaching a top speed of 198 mph.

BTW, still waiting for the Americans to get on board the train of fast trains....

[cromas @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:34AM]

First we need to get on board the idea of "trains" to begin with. I took the "Amtrak" from Portland to Seattle once, a 3.5 hour trip on the freeway. I can't remember how long it took, but I do remember that the train arrived over two hours late.

The universe falls apart in Japan if a train is so much as two minutes late.

[Alexis @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:45PM]

Acually, commercial N700s have a maximum speed of 300 km/h. The commercial TGV's is 350 km/h.

[NuShrike @ Jul 5th 2007 7:29PM]

TH: it's gonna take a while for America to catch on.

Between GM/oil ripping up tracks, a general opinion that riding the train (and mass transit) as ghetto and only for the low income, conservatives such as in Orange County consider it a money pit and actively fight against it and anything else that pulls them from their precious cars, it's gonna take a while for civilization to come.

They rather circle for 10s of minutes to find parking at those huge shopping malls/stadiums/etc where half the land is just for parking, spend up to 10% of their work hours crawling through traffic in their shiny luxury cars and more just to get through a major concert/game, and build up a lot of bulk from all that luxurious lack of walking.

[Mark Auwinger @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:15AM]

Two words - curves and mountains

[damian @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:02AM]

Do you mean that there are too many curves and mountains in the US? If that's the case you haven't been in Europe.

[Mark Auwinger @ Jul 3rd 2007 5:07PM]

Huh ? There are more curves and mountains in Japan than in on the runs where the TGV, ICE and other European high speed trains run.

PS I am German so I guess I have been to Europe

[Jon @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:16AM]

An extra 5 minutes is still an extra 5 more minutes every day spent with your kids before leaving home for work.

[mentalsticks @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:17AM]

it looks like a tennis shoe

[boe @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:18AM]

Bahh- the US still has rail records. No train derails faster than an amtrack train!

[Rocket Scientist @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:31AM]

Actually, that would be Amtrak, without the C.
also, you are incorrect about derailments. CSX freight holds that title.
Amtrak's Auto Train hold the distinction of being the longest passenger train in the U.S. at a little more than 3/4 of a mile long and is a express service. (no stops except at origination, and terminus. There's your U.S. Record. : )

[Rocket Scientist @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:22AM]

Yeah..., the froggy french have been pulling trains for years. : ) (read into it)
They suck at fighting throughout history, so they needed a fast get away. : )
Other than that, They build a fine rail set. Keep an eye on china though with their speed challenging mag lev from germany that goes from the international airport in Pudong to Shanghi.

[Jamar @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:38AM]

At this point, though- it's not very useful. Maybe with the extension to Hangzhou more people will start using it.

[nik @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:31AM]

This train wasn't designed to be faster. The train is more power efficient. New technologies implemented during curves in the track makes the ride smoother and eliminates the need for the train to slow down. It is this that made the ride 5 minutes faster. The cabin is more comfortable and has better services. You don't see airplane manufacturers boasting about speed with every new plane they make. They strive for efficiency and comfort, its the same with trains. The french are pushing their trains to the limit just to boast. Regular runs operate at much lower speeds.

[DEEZNUTZ @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:52AM]

WOW it's amazing how may rail transportation engineers read ENGADGET...

[Ayle @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:31AM]

I saw a documentary on the french railroads and they said that when they push train that fast its usually to stress test the rails and the trains and they set the commercial speed from the data they gather from those high speed runs...

[watt @ Jul 12th 2007 12:19AM]

Maybe that has something to do with planes not being allowed to go any faster? Trust me, if there was a way to spend two hours less spewing out pollutants between NY and LA someone would have cashed in on it.

[John Doe @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:51AM]

Imagine a deer crossing the tracks when one of these things goes by. o.O

[cc @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:02PM]

That would have to be a flying deer... the Japanese shinkansen tracks are usually built on top of massive concrete pylons that scar the countryside.

[euro star @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:53AM]

There's an article up now on BBC news saying that top Euro service speeds are 320 kmph (198.7mph), so how is that slower than the bullet's 186mph?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6262236.stm

[Phos @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:44AM]

Right:
- TGV-Est and duplex trains (duplex: they are built with two stages like good ol' red London buses) run at 320 kmph
- every other TGV trains run at 300 kmph. And have done so for nearly 10 years now!.

Top speed isn't everything though, this table shows speed from station to station (acceleration, top speed, breaking phase included) for many countries throughout the world:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/Articles/2005/11/01/1222/2005+World+Speed+Survey+tables.html

[kaztm @ Jul 3rd 2007 9:56AM]

Nice reader comments and good choice of topic saved another bad Engadget article.

[Vagrant @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:02AM]

The speed is cool and all, but don't miss out on the free WiFi access in the green car and the cheap seats too. They even have AC plugs for power.

http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/2006/03/31/11463.html

[cromas @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:35AM]

Actually, the article says that JR is thinking about offering wifi on the train in addition to the at-station service previously available, but hasn't decided on how to collect fees yet. There's no free lunch, especially in Japan.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:02AM]

Why don't we have these in the US?! I'll tell you why, From Standard Oil ripping up train tracks back in the day to Dick-head Dick Cheney and his Oiligarch pals. They PWN US period!!

[compuguy1088 @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:50AM]

It has nothing to do with Cheney at all. Its mainly the fact that Amtrack does not have very good funding. I've been on a train on the Northwest Corridor and the reason they cannot go faster, is the fact that they have not upgraded all of the sections to reach those speeds and one section is not even owned by Amtrack, in a stretch in New Jersey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Corridor

[Ben Schiendelman @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:06PM]

It really doesn't have much to do with Amtrak. Amtrak can't get more funding because we spend so much tax money on highways that our population spreads out too far to care about train service. Trains work best in areas where people are already used to using a subway or tramway, and in the US, we've well and screwed ourselves by subsidizing sprawl.

[aStopperBy @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:53PM]

Actually, I believe Amtrak hasn't turned a profit all these years--it's because of gov't subsidies it exists.

[Mr.Ortiz @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:08PM]

Public transportation, as a general rule, is not profitable. All rail systems rely on government subsidies. Most countries see it as a net positive for the economy if people can get around quickly and cheaply. Amtrak is subsidized just enough to keep it afloat, but not enough to make any meaningful improvements in service.

[Ben Schiendelman @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:51PM]

Actually, transportation, as a rule, is not profitable as long as one mode is subsidized above all others. How much do you think your highways cost...?

[Todd @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:26AM]

I like riding on the shinkansen. It just feels so peacefull as you hurtle through the country side at blazing fast speeds. I've only been able to take the 300 series trains though since where I go is only halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Wikipedia Fastech 360. Thats a faster one that the Japanese are working on right now.

[clem @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:29AM]

True, I had a go on the train the christmas and it was really smooth compare to trains in the Uk and France. It felt like your on a cloud.

Very enjoyable :3

[cybernezumi @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:38AM]

Hmm, for me the most important innovation of the new shink series is that all the cars are non-smoking. There will be smoking rooms between cars I think, but the seating areas themselves will be smoke free.

[Jeffrey @ Jul 3rd 2007 10:38AM]

And to think the bbc went crazy about 4 years ago when uk trains could go 138mph! I wish the UK had high speed train travel like the french germans and japanese. Even though my train to work yesterday could theoretically go about 140mph, legally go 125mph, it actually did the whole 40 mile journey at 40mph due to "Speed restrictions on track that needs engineering works nect week". I'm pretty fed up with the crappy state of the uk track. shame we can't do what the others do, spend loads of money on the track, and make them go in the straightest line possible (yes i don't care if a farmer loses half he's fields to a train track), just compulsary purchase and build a decent track so we can have fast trains

[Banksy @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:19AM]

If you applied the '5 minutes (3.3%) isn't much to cheer about' theory, engadget could only post half as many stories - how many articles do we see about new cpu/chipset/network/tv screen etc that's only a little bit faster/bigger/better/cheaper!

And anyway, every bloke likes trains - now when's traingadget coming online?

[Pete @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:33AM]

These run on standard rail track? I thought bullet trains ran on special track powered by magnets like LSM or LIM.

[VJH @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:45AM]

The track is a wide guage track, and it seems like it's built to a much higher tolerance than the standard tracks, but it's not a mag-lev. The JR group has a developmental mag-lev that seems to be close to production ready, but it's different from the Shinkansen trains currently in service.

[Ben Schiendelman @ Jul 3rd 2007 12:06PM]

Pete, VJH:

The Shinkansen uses standard gauge (4'8.5") track manufactured to very tight tolerances. It does *not* use wide gauge track - normal Japanese trains simply use narrow gauge track (3'6"). Shinkansen track is the same gauge as US rail.

[TH @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:53AM]

Yeah, these are so-called "conventional trains", and not MAGLEV. Of course for a connection to be run at these speeds, the track needs to be top grade as well. They often run in concrete canyons (to prevent the above mentioned deer or anything else from coming to the tracks), have no level crossings and no slower (freight or passenger) traffic. In some places they use these tracks for freight traffic during night time, which you of course can't do with MAGLEV at all.

For most train connections the limitations in speed don't actually come from the engine, they come from other traffic and of course track conditions - for high speeds the curves must be tilted (although some fast trains have tilting bodies so that they can run faster on older tracks, and so that the track can be used on slow speeds for freight trains, that can't take too much tilt) and not too tight. In many places the main obstacle for faster train traffic are level crossings - substituting them with bridges or underpasses is costly and often impractical, yet they are a safety risk and a limiting factor to train speeds.

[Big Ed @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:33AM]

Faster than EDGE?

[VJH @ Jul 3rd 2007 11:41AM]

I can't comment for all of the JR groups, but the Jouetsu Shinkasen operated by JR East has been completely smoke-free since April 1. I would think the same is true for the other Shinkansen lines.

[cromas @ Jul 3rd 2007 1:11PM]

Sadly, the Tokkaido line still has smoking cars...and boy are they arranged stupidly. I took a Nozomi recently were the non-reserved cars were 1-3, and 3 was the smoking car, which meant you had to walk through the smoking car to get to your car. Because of all the traffic, the smoke wafted back to car 2 anyway. I imagine these new-fangled "between car" smoking areas will work to the same effect -- with the traffic from the snack girls, the ticket punchers, bathroom goers, and seat hoppers, there will still be plenty of smoke to go around. Sigh.

When is tobacco going to become illegal?

[Rik @ Jul 3rd 2007 2:02PM]

Still have to travel on one of these high speed trains, it has to be awesome...

What I did do allready was take a ride on the transrapid test track in Germany (yeah, the one where the accident with the service train happened). While the train was happely traveling through a steep corner at 250 km/h (155 Mph) and topping out on that test run at 390 km/h (240 Mph) it was just utterly relaxing... And at a certain moment when decelerating it felt like we were going at 50 km/h, we were actually traveling at 150 km/h :-P

Too bad there are still too many barriers for implementing this great system, which has much better acceleration, less noise, slightly lower power consumsumption, a better ride, less maintainance and better safety (as long as you don't leave service carts on wheels on the track...) The fact that you can't transport goods and that it proves an issue at stations (you can't manouver to a halt over rails) weighs heavily...

[engineering @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:41PM]

It seems like snake which is flying.......actually its speed is compare to aeroplane.......the japanese technology is booming .& its the example of it.....................

[Karan @ Jul 3rd 2007 4:53PM]

From memory, having travelled on both, I believe the Shinkansen has more capacity than the TGV - I'd say that makes the Shinkansen a better deal :)

[kentique @ Jul 3rd 2007 6:25PM]

The bullet is also built around relative silence and low vibration- these trains usually go fast right next to houses, and sometimes even OVER houses. JR has been trying to negotiate environmental issues as well as comfort in the exterior environment. 5 minutes of speed is almost an added bonus.

[Dan @ Jul 3rd 2007 7:13PM]

Saw them talking about this and its predecessors on DiscoveryHD. Really neat stuff, especially in 1080i.

[ferdz @ Jul 6th 2007 1:53AM]

These duck-billed shinkansen trains are already in service for at least 6+ years. (I lived in Japan 5 years ago.) I think they just updated the engines/drives and added more amenities. That explains the old CRT type monitors in the cockpit and not-so-brand-new look in the cabins.

[gray @ Jul 18th 2007 3:46AM]

There are some nice vids of the n700 here
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/japans-newest-shinkansen-bullet-train-the-n700-videos/