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
400 Series Shinkansen 400 Series Shinkansen The was a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) between 1992 and 2010 on "Tsubasa" services on Japan's first mini-shinkansen line, the Yamagata Shinkansen branch from the main Tohoku Shinkansen. The fleet of 400 series trains was leased by JR East from the owning company, , a third-sector company jointly owned by JR East and Yamagata Prefecture. They were originally six-car sets, but a seventh car (type 429) was added in 1995 to each set due to the popularity of the new "Tsubasa" services. The pre-series set, S4, was delivered