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
100 Series Shinkansen livery from August 2002, with all ten sets (K51–K60) similarly treated by August 2004. Three K sets were returned to the original white/blue livery from July 2010. The first set treated, K53, was returned to traffic on 14 July 2010. These sets were withdrawn from service on 16 March 2012. Cars 2 and 6 were equipped with cross-arm pantographs. 100 Series Shinkansen The was a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train type which operated between 1984 and 2012 on the Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen high-speed lines. They were introduced after the 200 series trains, but their numbering is such because in