Shinkansen
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Fast railway network operated by Japanese Railways, on which the ‘bullet’ trains run. The network, opened in 1964, uses specially built straight and level track, on which average speeds of 160 kph/100 mph are attained.
The Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka carried 270,000 passengers a day by 1990.
The new Japanese bullet train, Nozomi-503, in March 1997 hit an average speed of 261.8 kph/163 mph between Hiroshima and Kokura, breaking the current rail speed record. Equipped with a long-nose lead carriage and new sound-proofing for a faster, quieter ride, the Nozomi-503 carried 1,300 passengers in 16 carriages from Osaka to Fukuoka, hitting speeds of up to 300 kph/187 mph. The official record for average speed between two stations of 252.6 kph/157 mph had been held by the French TGV. The Nozomi also matched the top speed reached by the TGV.
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