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
W7 Series Shinkansen The W7 series is the first JR-West train type to use the "W" prefix, following the method used by JR East (with an "E" prefix). , the fleet is as follows. W7 Series Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) on the Hokuriku Shinkansen since it was extended from to in March 2015. Jointly developed alongside the similar JR East E7 series, a total of eleven 12-car W7 series sets (132 vehicles) have been built. The first W7 series train was delivered in April 2014. Based on the earlier E2 series