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
300 Series Shinkansen F5. The last remaining sets were withdrawn by spring 2012 and replaced by nine 700 series "C" sets transferred from JR Central. The 16-car F sets were formed as follows, with car 1 at the Hakata end. Cars 6 and 12 each had one single-arm pantograph. "Source:" 300 Series Shinkansen The was a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen train type which operated on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines in Japan between 1992 and 2012. When first introduced, they were used on the fastest "Nozomi" services, being capable of . As more were delivered (66 trains by 1998) they replaced earlier units