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
N700 Series Shinkansen of the 303 Kawasaki-made bogies were substandard due to improper welding preparations, which caused the base material of the bogies to become 4.7mm in thickness, instead of the required 7mm or more. Following the events JR West is planning to gradually replace all the bogies that were provided by Kawasaki. The annual totals for the fleet sizes (number of vehicles as of 1 April each year) owned by JR Central, JR West, and JR Kyushu are as follows. N700 Series Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train with tilting capability developed jointly by JR Central and JR-West for use