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
Tōkaidō Shinkansen Yamada announced the operating company's intentions to raise the maximum line speed beyond , with a revised timetable to be introduced in spring 2015. In February 2014, JR Central announced that, from spring 2015, the maximum speed would be increased to for services using N700A or modified N700 series trains. Initially, just one service per hour will run at , with more services gradually added later. Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen line, opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka. Since 1987 it has been operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), prior to that by