Shinkansen Shinkansen The , meaning "new trunkline," but colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, in order to aid economic growth and development. Beyond long-distance travel, some sections around the largest metropolitan areas are used as a commuter rail network. It is operated by five Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen () in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-Shinkansen lines with a maximum
E6 Series Shinkansen E6 Series Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) on "Komachi" "mini-shinkansen" services on the Tohoku Shinkansen and Akita Shinkansen from Tokyo to since 16 March 2013. A pre-series set was delivered in June 2010 for extensive testing, with 23 full-production sets delivered between November 2012 and spring 2014. The 7-car E6 series trains operate in conjunction with E5 series or H5 series (since March 2016) 10-car trains, initially on just four return services daily from 16 March 2013. They replaced all of the previous E3 series trains on "Komachi"