Japan: 50 years of the bullet train

[Aepsilons]

Nothing special for this year but you may expect the next year when the donghae-nambu line reopens as a commuter line connecting korea's 2nd largest economic block. From busan through ulsan all the way up to po-hang (geez based on the initial plan they're supposed to open it in 90s!!) Don't know much about anything else sorry ww

I had the pleasure , several years ago, to take the Honam HSR from Seoul to Dongdaegu , the ride was pleasant and professional , clean. The view when through Daejeon was stunning, btw. Korean country side is stellar.

The South Korea companies took part in the high speed rail research in Turkey now. I donot know where is the tech of KR inherited from, and they usually attract other countries to do some "waste money" researches, but KR shares its tech.

Of course, South Korea has been an active investor in Turkey's infrastructure for quite some time. Both countries share quite good relations. In fact, South Korea has had historical relations with the Middle East as a whole; during the infancy years of Hyundai, Daewoo, Kia, these companies were heavily involved in infrastructure development in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah, Riyadh), which bolstered these companies' exposure to the region and confidence on their product by the locals.

 

[Aepsilons]

overall, how much has Japan invested in the bullet train ?

That's a good question. Considering and taking note of price changes over the years. A healthy estimation would be roughly $1 Trillion.

 

[rott]

That's a good question. Considering and taking note of price changes over the years. A healthy estimation would be roughly $1 Trillion.

You're a fake and a liar. You've lost all your credibility in all your posts. No Chinese members will trust your words. You better fade away from this forum.

 

[FNFAL]

For my generation, and the ones before, the word technology will be spoken in the same breath as Japan.

 

[BoQ77]

You're a fake and a liar. You've lost all your credibility in all your posts. No Chinese members will trust your words. You better fade away from this forum.

such a heavy words attack to a PDF Think Tank.
China also trying to achieve what Japan did 50 years ago, but the result is just not good at the beginning by some accidents.

 

[Aepsilons]

For my generation, and the ones before, the word technology will be spoken in the same breath as Japan.

I'm glad that you have confidence in us. I also hope that Japan and India can forge better technology partnerships in the future.

 

[FNFAL]

I'm glad that you have confidence in us. I also hope that Japan and India can forge better technology partnerships in the future.

Amen to that.
Time is ripe for Japan to be at the forefront of technological advanacements, an area where other asian countries like South Korea and China are breathing down your neck.

India's role will be that of a valuable partner, who can help in specific niche areas where India has carved a name while compeing with the best in the world.

 

[Ragnar]

@Nihonjin1051 ji Kindly post some vintage pics also to commemorate this occasion.

 

[Aepsilons]

@Nihonjin1051 ji Kindly post some vintage pics also to commemorate this occasion.

My pleasure, @Ragnar .


Launching of the first Shinkansen in 1964,

Retro look, taken in 1965,

 

[Aepsilons]

A commuter train jumped the tracks in western Japan on April 25 and crashed into an apartment complex, killing 107 people and injuring more than 450 others in the deadliest rail accident in the country in 40 years.
The crash happened near Amagasaki, about 410 kilometres west of Tokyo, at 9:18 a.m. The seven-car commuter train was carrying 580 passengers when it derailed on a curving section of track, and rammed into a nine-storey apartment complex. Two of the five derailed cars were flattened against the wall of the building.
The accident caused considerable shock in Japan. The rail system is widely viewed as safe and efficient and there have been few disasters. The most serious was in November 1963, when a collision between three trains killed 161 people in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo. An accident killed 42 people in April 1991 in Shigaraki. In March 2000, five people were killed and 33 were injured when a Tokyo subway train hit a derailed train. An earthquake in 2004 caused a bullet train to derail—the first since the high speed trains went into service 40 years ago—but there was no loss of life.
The tragedy last month has been blamed on the 23-year-old driver, Ryujiro Takami. Takami overshot the stop at the last station before the crash and had fallen 90 seconds behind schedule. It appears he was trying to make up time. The data recorder recovered at the crash site showed that the train was traveling 108 kilometres per hour when it derailed, on a section of track that had a 70-kilometre per hour speed limit. The young driver’s body was found with his hand gripping the emergency brake.
Kazuhiko Nagase, a Kanazawa Institute of Technology professor and train expert, said: “If the train hadn’t hit anything before derailing ... the train was probably speeding. For the train to flip, it had to be travelling at a high speed.”
The circumstances surrounding the accident raise a series of questions about the impact of the privatisation of the Japanese rail system and the subordination of public transport to the pursuit of profit.
Japan’s National Railway was government-run for 115 years until 1987, when it was privatised and sold off to six companies. One of the firms, Japan Railways West, has turned the Fukuchiyama Line, where the derailment took place, into one of the most profitable parts of the system by running more trains and increasing train speeds.
Drivers and railway staff work under intense stress to keep to the tight timetables. There is no government test for train drivers as there is for airline pilots and ships captains. Training is determined solely by the company. Takami had only received his train operator’s licence in May 2004. One month later, he overran a station and was punished for the mistake.
The rail union directly blamed Takami’s fear of being punished again for the speed at which he was driving the train on April 25. Japan Federation of Railway Workers vice president Osamu Yomono said: “The accident is a result of JR West’s ... high-pressure management, which uses terror to force its employees to follow orders.”
Yomono explained that drivers who fail to meet schedules are surrounded by their superiors and berated as punishment and forced to write “meaningless reports”. The union said Takami had been put through such treatment for 13 days in 2004. The company confirmed that Takami had been punished.
The practice of punishing employees for being late has led to other tragedies. In 2001, Masaki Hattori, who also worked for Japan Railways West, hanged himself in his home after being penalised for an unscheduled 60-second stop to conduct routine safety checks. He had 20 years experience and an unblemished record. According to his family, who unsuccessfully sued Japan Railway West for damages, Masaki Hattori killed himself because of the humiliation of re-education.
Drivers undergoing re-education have their pay docked and are banned from drinking tea, talking to one another, or going to the lavatory without permission. They have to write up to eight reports a day on why they made the mistake and how they inconvenienced the passengers. Drivers have been locked in a small room and berated by management. The humiliation can go on for months. One driver was made to stand on a platform in his uniform, greeting trains as they arrived and wishing the drivers a safe journey.
Soon after Masaki Hattori’s suicide, an official of Japan Railways West’s trade union said eight company workers had killed themselves in the past two years, half of them following company re-education.
Investigators and experts have highlighted several other factors that may have contributed to the accident and which stem from cost-saving measures by the railway’s private operators.
In the past, railway carriages were assembled from heavy steel, which worked to give them more stability. Newer carriages, however, are being made from less costly, lightweight stainless steel. Hiroshi Kubota, an expert who once worked for the National Railways, told the Asahi Shimbun on May 4: “Past railway cars made of steel were more stable at curves. The derailed train had heavy air conditioning systems atop the roof of the cars that are just as heavy as the bottom frames of the cars. That probably unbalanced the cars and made them prone to topple.”
Experts have also pointed out that the automatic braking system on the line where the accident happened is among the oldest in Japan. The system is supposed to stop trains at signs of trouble without requiring a driver to take emergency action. Reports say the older system is less effective in halting trains travelling at high speeds.
What is clear is that the intense pressure on staff, combined with the lack of investment in updating safety systems and cost-cutting in the way trains are manufactured, contributed to the derailment on April 25. Unless these factors are addressed, the potential exists for future accidents.
Japanese train crash linked to employee stress - World Socialist Web Site

World Socialist Web site? lol.

 

[Bombaywalla]

Launching of the first Shinkansen in 1964,

These retro designs leave me beaming from ear to ear. Thanks for sharing!

Long live Japan!

 

[Aepsilons]

@Jlaw

I don't have to pretend because I am Japanese. Please watch your use of racist terminology.

 

[BoQ77]

@Jlaw That's not a bullet train, the accident happen when the train overpass the speed limit 70 km/h by 116km/h speed.

Maximum speed 120 km/h (75 mph)

There have been two derailments of Shinkansen trains in passenger service. The first one occurred during the Chūetsu Earthquake on 23 October 2004. Eight of ten cars of the Toki No. 325 train on the Jōetsu Shinkansen derailed near Nagaoka Station in Nagaoka, Niigata. There were no casualties among the 154 passengers.[17]

Another derailment happened on 2 March 2013 on the Akita Shinkansen when the Komachi No. 25 train derailed in blizzard conditions in Daisen, Akita. No passengers were injured.[18]

In the event of an earthquake, an earthquake detection system can bring the train to a stop very quickly. A new anti-derailment device was installed after detailed analysis of the Jōetsu derailment.

 

[Aepsilons]

These retro designs leave me beaming from ear to ear. Thanks for sharing!

Long live Japan!

I can't wait when India builds its HSR , soon, too ! I hope that both our countries can work together on that....

Still pretending to be a jap? Here simething closer to your heart.

Japan Train Crash Kills 57, Injures Over 400 | Fox News

AMAGASAKI, Japan – A packed commuter train jumped the tracks in western Japan on Monday and hurtled into an apartment complex, killing 57 people and injuring more than 440 others in the deadliest Japanese rail accident in four decades.
Investigators focused on whether excessive speed or the actions of the inexperienced, 23-year-old driver caused the crash in an urban area near Amagasaki (search), about 250 miles west of Tokyo.
The packed seven-car train was carrying 580 passengers when it derailed near Amagasaki, plowing through an automobile in its path before slamming into a nine-story apartment complex.
Two of the five derailed cars were shoved inside and flattened against the wall of the building's first-floor garage. Hundreds of rescue workers and police swarmed the wreckage to recover bodies, tend to the injured and try to free at least three survivors still trapped inside 13 hours after the crash.
The 9:18 a.m. accident occurred at a curve after a straightaway. Passengers speculated that the driver — who was still unaccounted for — may have been speeding to make up for lost time after overshooting the previous station.
Investigators suspected speed and driver inexperience but weren't ruling out other explanations.
Transport Minister Kazuo Kitagawa told reporters he would order all of Japan's railway operators to conduct safety inspections in the coming days.
"It's tragic," Kitagawa said at the scene. "We have to investigate why this horrible accident happened."
A Hyogo prefectural police official Hiroshi Yamatani said the death toll had hit 57 and at least 440 other people had been taken to hospitals, including 137 with broken bones and other serious injuries.
The accident was the worst rail disaster in nearly 42 years in safety-conscious Japan, which is home to one of the world's most complex, efficient and heavily traveled rail networks. A three-train crash in November 1963 killed 161 people in Tsurumi, outside Tokyo.
Tsunemi Murakami, safety director for train operator West Japan Railway Co. (search), said it wasn't clear how fast the train was traveling.
A crew member aboard told police later he "felt the train was going faster than usual," public broadcaster NHK said, echoing comments from passengers who told the network that the driver seemed to be trying to make up for lost time after overshooting the previous station by 25 feet and then having to back up. The train was nearly two minutes behind schedule, media reports said.
The driver — identified as 23-year-old Ryujiro Takami — had obtained his train operator's license in May 2004. One month later, he overran a station and was issued a warning for his mistake, railway officials and police said.
Monday's crash occurred at a curve, where drivers are required to slow to a speed of 43 mph. An automatic braking system along that stretch of track is among the oldest in Japan and can't halt trains traveling at high speeds, transport ministry officials said. Newer systems are designed to stop trains at signs of trouble without requiring drivers to take emergency action.
Murakami, the JR West official, estimated that the train had to have been traveling at 82 miles per hour to have jumped the track purely because of excessive speed. Investigators also found evidence of rocks on the tracks, but hadn't determined whether that contributed to the crash, he said.
Experts suspected a confluence of factors was to blame.
"There are very few train accidents in Japan in which a train has flipped just because it was going too fast. There might have been several conditions at work — speed, winds, poor train maintenance or aging rails," Kazuhiko Nagase, a Kanazawa Institute of Technology professor and train expert, told NHK.
"For the train to flip, it had to be traveling at an extremely high speed," Nagase added.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (search) offered condolences to families of passengers who were killed, as did Emperor Akihito (search), in rare unscripted remarks at a news conference before an overseas goodwill trip.
Survivors said the force of the derailment sent passengers tumbling, and many were bloodied or unconscious.
"There was a violent shaking, and the next moment I was thrown to the floor ... and I landed on top of a pile of other people," passenger Tatsuya Akashi told NHK. "I didn't know what happened, and there were many people bleeding."
Distraught relatives rushed to hospitals to search lists of the injured and dead. Takamichi Hayashi said his elder brother, 19-year-old Hiroki, had called their mother on a mobile phone from inside one of the train cars just after the crash but remained unaccounted for. He said he had heard Hiroki was among those still inside the wreckage.
Late Monday, rescuers trained floodlights on the damaged cars and administered emergency medical care to three conscious survivors, but were hampered by worries about a gasoline leak, said Amagasaki Fire Department official Shohei Matsuda. Others were also inside but they were feared dead.
Deadly train accidents are rare in Japan. Five people were killed and 33 were injured in March 2000, when a Tokyo subway hit a derailed train. An accident killed 42 people in April 1991 in Shigaraki, western Japan.
An earthquake in 2004 caused a bullet train to derail — the first since the high speed trains went into service 40 years ago.

These are not Shinkansen, these are regular commuter trains. Clearly you don't know the difference.

 

[Jlaw]

U.S. Rejects Japan’s High Speed Trains | Majirox News
Believe it or not, the Shinkansen has been kicked out of the running as a candidate for America’s high speed rail because it can’t meet new American railroad safety requirements. One could almost hear audible gasps of astonishment in Japan.
“If the Shinkansen ever collided with a freight train, the survival of the passengers and crew was something that never entered our thoughts,” said a representative of JR East. “The Shinkansen runs on special tracks and no other train is ever allowed on it. So there has never been any reason to ever think about it.” JR East had pushed hard to export the Shinkansen.
The U.S. Department of Transportation in the middle of January sent out a list of 13 safety requirements for high speed trains to railroad manufacturers worldwide, including Japan. One requirement was that if a high speed train crashes into a stopped train at 20 miles an hour (about 32 kilometers per hour) crew and passengers have to survive the collision. Furthermore, if the train collides with a truck loaded with 18 tons of steel coil stalled at a crossing the engineer has to survive. As it stands now, the Shinkansen can’t meet these requirements.
Put it another way, if the Shinkansen collides with another train about the speed a race horse can gallop at an all out canter, there is a clear possibility that crew or passengers could be killed or injured.
“The Shinkansen itself has been a very successful train in countries that have rail systems like Japan,” says Kevin van Douwen, a hydraulics engineer who consults for the Dutch Railway System. “Here in the Netherlands we use 400 Japanese made engines and cars based on the Shinkansen, but running at much slower speeds on a rail system somewhat like Japans.”
Germany’s Inter City Express, ICE, France’s Train à Grande Vitesse, TVG, and the Shinkansen are among the world’s premier high speed trains that run in conditions far different from the United States but different from Japan. In fact, the ICE had accidents like the ones that the Americans fear.
The differences between German and American railways are more obvious than their similarities. In the U.S. there are often grade level crossings where automobile traffic has to stop for the train to pass, where freight trains and passenger trains run on the same track and areas that livestock and wild animals can easily get on the track.
In densely populated Germany it’s different. For one thing there are overpasses, dedicated track, grade level crossings are unknown, and there are no vast areas of wilderness. Even so there have been collisions with other trains, vehicles and livestock.
“The ICE runs in Austria, Denmark, Switzerland and to a limited extent in Holland and Belgium, too,” Van Douwen says. “Unfamiliarity with foreign systems may have been the cause of the crash.”
The ICE collided at about 56 km/h head on with a stopped Swiss train April 2006. Thirty passengers and the driver of the ICE suffered minor injuries and the driver of the Swiss train leapt off before the collision. But both trains were close to a total loss.
“The Americans may have had this crash in mind when they wrote their new regulations,” Van Douwen says. “They want the crew and passengers to be able to walk away from a wreck.”
The ICE had collisions with trucks and tractors that fell off from overpasses. There was even a collision with a herd of sheep that managed to get on the tracks. Although there were injuries and sometimes serious ones, no one has been killed. This may have had to do with the initial design, and an expectation that accidents like these were possible.
“We’ve asked the various manufacturers whether they can reinforce their trains to meet the American requirements,” JR East told the Japanese publication the Asahi Shimbun. “But from what we’ve gathered, they apparently see no reason to do so.”
Japanese manufacturers point out that its lighter carriages use less fuel, are more energy efficient, and reinforcing them enough to meet American standards would make them heavier and turn them into the railroad equivalent of gas guzzlers.
Florida intends to open bidding for a high speed rail line in the middle of February. Don’t look for a Shinkansen to pull into Tampa soon, or ever for that matter, unless there is a huge change of heart among Japanese railroad equipment manufacturers.