The Bullet Train By Kye Milne

 What is the Shinkansen? Introduction The Shinkansen, literally meaning ‘new trunk line’ but known to most people as the ‘bullet train’ is a network of Japanese trains all over Japan. Even from the name of it, you can start to imagine how fast these trains are built to go. During normal service, the Shinkansen goes around 300 km/h but in test runs, these trains have reached up to 443 km/h. The World Record for the fastest Shinkansen is 581 km/h. There are many different types of Shinkansen and there are 6 different Shinkansen lines around Japan.

 The first line to put these amazing trains to use was the Tokaido Shinkansen Line from Tokyo to Osaka. The line opened on October 1, 1964, just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokaido Shinkansen Line was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on July 13, 1967 and one billion passengers in Initially, Shinkansen could run up to 200km/h (125mph), but their pace has increased with improvements in infrastructure, signalling and maintenance. The only Shinkansen derailment ever occurred in the Chuetsu Earthquake on 23 October Eight of ten cars of the Toki No. 325 train on the Joetsu Shinkansen derailed near Nagaoka Station in Nagaoka, Niigata. Thankfully, there were no injuries nor deaths among the 154 passengers. History of the Shinkansen

 Different Shinkansen Lines The shinkansen network consists of multiple lines. Most shinkansen lines run on tracks that are exclusively built for and used only by these trains. Most lines are served by multiple train categories, ranging from the fastest category that stops only at major stations to the slowest category that stops at every station in between their starting and ending point. On the right is a map and a list of different Shinkansen and where they run :

A more detailed map of the Shinkansen routes and lines.

 Centrifugal Force: Centrifugal force is the force you feel when, for example, you are in a car and it takes a sudden bend. Your body wants to carry on in a straight line therefore making you feel as if a force is pushing you the opposite way to which you are turning. This force can have deadly effects on trains. In Osaka, Japan, in 2005, a commuter train took a bend too fast and flew off the tracks, crashing into nearby buildings and killing 107 people. Thankfully, derailment is rare but it was still a risk that Shinkansen engineers weren’t willing to take. Chariot racing helped engineers to fix this problem. In ancient chariot racing, the riders and the horses leaned into the bend, therefore lessening the centrifugal force. For normal Japanese trains, simply tilting the tracks into the bend (banking) was enough as they travel fairly slowly compared to Shinkansen. Just banking wasn’t enough for Japan’s high-speed Shinkansen and engineers did not want to slow the trains down. Engineers were then still faced with that problem. So, computer-controlled airbags were attached under each carriage, making the entire bullet train lean. As the Shinkansen corners, each section of the train tilts independently at exactly the right time, and by just the right amount. Thanks to ancient charioteers, Shinkansen can corner up to 19 kilometers faster, keeping passengers right on time. Mechanisms of the Shinkansen

Derailment in Osaka, 2005 Ancient Roman Chariot Racing

 Earthquake Detector Japan is one of the most earthquake prone country on the planet. Each year, about 900 earthquakes occur in Japan. Keeping Shinkansen on the tracks throughout an earthquake would be extremely hard for engineers to do. Having a vehicle moving as fast as a Shinkansen during an earthquake can be potentially very deadly. To get around this problem, the Japanese invented the very first earthquake detector. This was not just a seismometer. A seismometer would be no use as it only tells you basically just as the earthquake is about to occur. This new earthquake detector detects the smaller p-waves well before the main earthquake. 2 seconds after the earthquake detector picks up the movement from the p-waves, the drivers turn the power of the trains off therefore keeping passengers safe during an earthquake. Mechanisms of the Shinkansen

Derailment at the Chuetsu Earthquake on the 23 rd October 2004.

  Nozomi-hope  Hikari-light  Yamabiko-echo  Toki-ibis  Tanigawa-mountain stream  Kodama-echo  Sakura-cherry blossom  Mizuho-wheat  Rail Star-rail star  Komachi-named after a Japanese poet  Hayate-gale  Doctor Yellow-doctor yellow  Tsubame-sparrow  Tsubasa-wing  Aoba-greenery  Nasuno-name of a city in Nagano Prefecture  Asahi-rising sun Meanings of Shinkansen Names

  (8/11/2012)  (8/11/2012)  of Shinkansen train models (9/11/2012) of Shinkansen train models  (9/11/2012)  (19/11/2012)  (3/12/2012)  (4/12/2012)  (8/12/2012)  (8/12/2012) Bibliography

 Thank you for watching!