Monday, August 04, 2008

"The Shinkansen Super Express Trains"

The Shinkansen train system in Japan - for a long time, known only as "the bullet train" - is finally beginning to be known by it's proper name "Shinkansen". The name itself is better sounding than it's translation - "new main/trunk line". (Even in Japanese, "Shinkansen" conjures up images of the train, not the mundane component parts of the name.) Initially, the "bullet train" name made some sense, as the first version of the train looked like a bullet at the front, and was fast like a "speeding bullet" (in comparison to other trains).

I bring this up, because I posted a video at YouTube of one of the original type Shinkansen trains pulling into Tokyo Station in 1991, and then one of the newer (at the time) Shinkansen trains leaving the station. The video also takes a quick walk inside one of the old type train cars and looks into the cab:

And this page has some pictures and information about the current Shinkansen train system:
http://www.japanrail.com/JR_shinkansen.html

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/

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