The Wonders and Weaknesses of Japan’s Shinkansen: A Look at the Journey Towards 320 km/h

In the previous two installments, we discussed the incredible achievements of the Shinkansen. There are actually many more points to cover, but for now, we focused on the ‘national network’ and ‘operating timetable,’ which were large-scale topics that were easy for everyone to understand. However, the Shinkansen isn’t perfect. Today, I want to touch upon its weak points.

We previously mentioned that “China’s high-speed rail network is nine times longer than Japan’s Shinkansen.” But in addition to that, there is another area where China surpasses Japan—the ‘maximum operating speed.’ Currently, the maximum operating speed of Chinese high-speed rail is 350 km/h, making it a clear world leader. After the famous accident in Wenzhou in 2011, which resulted in numerous casualties and led to the vehicle being buried by authorities because no survivors were found—an incident that stunned the world—the speed was restricted to “300 km/h” due to reasons of “energy saving” and “fare control.” However, they resumed ‘350 km/h operation’ in 2017, regaining their position as the world leader.
Conversely, let’s look at Japan’s Shinkansen maximum speed. In descending order, the Tohoku Shinkansen is “320 km/h,” the Sanyo Shinkansen is “300 km/h,” the Tokaido Shinkansen is “285 km/h,” other lines like Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Hokuriku are at “260 km/h,” and the Joetsu Shinkansen is an astonishing “240 km/h.” While it’s not a complete failure, you can feel that we are lagging behind. Does this mean that Japan’s high-speed rail technology, which once led the world, has been overtaken by China in less than 20 years? That conclusion is premature. The reason is simple: because Japanese Shinkansen must operate under conditions of profitability and avoid losses, much like the old national railway system, it places great emphasis on “economic viability” and “safety.” In other words, they set the maximum speed for each line based on the concept of ‘economically viable operating speed.’ The Tohoku Shinkansen is a clear example. When it opened in 1985 (Showa 60), its speed was “240 km/h.” After extending to Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, the E2 series was introduced, raising the speed to “275 km/h.” Later, it increased to “300 km/h,” and currently, it has been raised to “320 km/h.” The speed increases have occurred depending on factors like extending the distance or competing with air travel. When it extended to Sapporo, they seemed to be aiming for “360 km/h.” While Japan’s Shinkansen has achieved a maximum test speed of “443 km/h,” due to considerations like noise reduction, “320 km/h” seems to be the current limit. For the Hokkaido Shinkansen extension to Sapporo in 2030 (Reiwa 12), they are developing next-generation Shinkansen aiming for a maximum operating speed of “360 km/h.” We definitely cannot take our eyes off the future high-speed development of the Shinkansen.

The factors hindering the acceleration of the Shinkansen are actually complex and intertwined. I plan to dedicate a full feature article to that topic later. Besides ‘maximum operating speed,’ there are other weaknesses of the Shinkansen, which we will discuss in future posts.

Well then, see you next time!