As I sat on my seat in carriage number 6 on the Hikari super-express bullet train to Kyoto, I came to the realisation of how a high speed rail network that is safe, reliable and efficient can transform a country. Passing Mount Fuji at 300km per hour on the clearest of days after a typhoon had just swept through Tokyo, I was struck as the sheer magnificence of a rail system that has a 99.5% punctuality achievement rate. As the train conductor bowed on the way out of my carriage, I bought myself a bento box and surmised that this is a fine example of how you manage people movement.
The first Shinkansen train line started operating in 1964, and heralded a new age of travel in Japan and with continual expansion you can travel to nearly all major cities by speed train. The busiest line is the JR (Japan Rail) Tokaido line which runs between Tokyo and Osaka carrying 151 million passengers in 2008. Currently JR is busy building new lines that will be used by new Maglev trains that are capable of reaching speeds of 550km per hour. It is anticipated that this will cut the journey from Tokyo to Osaka from 3 hours to just under 2 hours making it possible to be in Aoyama for a business meeting in the morning and be back in Namba tucking into takoyaki for supper. In a time where air travel is increasingly cutting back its service levels due to extremely high overheads, Transcript feels that this is the long haul travel option
of the future.
Transcript challenges state governments of Australia to follow this lead because bureaucracy is no longer an excuse for inactivity. The Shinkansen rail network is a perfect example of what foresight, planning and funding of infrastructure projects can achieve in a country that prides itself on efficiency.
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