How every fact on this site was checked
100 facts. Each one is in our own words, each one has a source, and each one was checked against that source on 10 November 2026.
How we check
We read each source and wrote each fact in our own words. Our build stores the text of every source page, and for each fact it checks that the key words and figures, the “checks” in the table, really appear on the source page. If any check fails, the site does not build. Where good sources disagree, we show each version in a “Sources differ” box rather than picking one. Anything that is our own reading, rather than a sourced fact, is labelled Our opinion. The drawings are our own and simplified.
Some pages would not load for our checker directly. For those we read the Internet Archive’s saved copy of the same page, and the link still goes to the original. JR Central’s Integrated Report is a PDF; we checked against its text.
Known disagreements
- The first journey time. 4 hours at opening in 1964 (Embassy of Japan; Japan’s transport ministry; JR Central), later 3 hours 10 minutes (JR Central), or “a little over three hours” (Science Museum Group).
- Bullet trains outside Japan. The York car is “the only bullet train outside of Japan” (Science Museum Group catalogue) or “one of only two” (National Railway Museum).
What we left out
- The Shinkansen is run by several companies. Most of our figures are for JR Central’s Tokaido Shinkansen, and we say so where they are.
- Timetables, fleets and construction dates change. We give each figure as the named source states it, on the date we checked.
- The network drawing is a schematic, not a map, and leaves out the Yamagata and Akita branches.
- Conversions between miles and kilometres in our own text are ours; the sourced figures are as each source gives them.
The log
| # | Fact | Source | Checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Tokaido Shinkansen opened on 1 October 1964, just 10 days before the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games began. | Embassy of Japan in the UK: Shinkansen and the Legacy of Tokyo 1964 (2021) | 1 passed |
| 2 | Many people saw it as a symbol of Japan’s modernisation after the war. | Embassy of Japan in the UK: Shinkansen and the Legacy of Tokyo 1964 (2021) | 1 passed |
| 3 | Shinkansen means ‘new main line’. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 4 | It was the first railway route built just to move large numbers of people in comfort and at high speed. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 5 | The National Railway Museum says that with it, Japan reinvented passenger railways. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 6 | The first trains, the Series 0, were the first in the world to run in passenger service at a top speed of 210km/h. | Embassy of Japan in the UK: Shinkansen and the Legacy of Tokyo 1964 (2021) | 1 passed |
| 7 | They were soon called ‘bullet trains’, for their speed and for the bullet shape of their noses. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 8 | At first the journey from Tokyo to Osaka took 4 hours, instead of 6 hours 30 minutes on an ordinary express. | Embassy of Japan in the UK: Shinkansen and the Legacy of Tokyo 1964 (2021) | 1 passed |
| 9 | The first services were the 4-hour ‘Hikari’ and the 5-hour ‘Kodama’ between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. | Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Japan): Council for Transport Policy report, chapter 1 | 1 passed |
| 10 | JR Central says the time came down to 3 hours 10 minutes, from 4 hours when the line opened. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Integrated Report 2024 (PDF) | 1 passed |
| 11 | The Science Museum Group says the line was about 320 miles long and its trains took a little over three hours. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 12 | The first section, between Tokyo and Osaka, was 515km (320 miles) long. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 13 | The line roughly follows, and is named after, the old Tokaido (‘Eastern Sea Road’) highway of the Edo period. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 14 | Its builders introduced new ideas such as prestressed concrete sleepers and mile-long welded lengths of rail. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 15 | Unlike earlier Japanese trains, the Tokaido Shinkansen and every Shinkansen line since have been standard gauge. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 16 | It was built and run by the state-owned Japanese National Railways, and has been part of the private Japan Railways Group since 1987. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 17 | Central Japan Railway Company, JR Central, was set up on 1 April 1987, when JNR was privatised and broken up. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Integrated Report 2024 (PDF) | 1 passed |
| 18 | The chief engineer was Hideo Shima, born in Osaka in 1901, who had joined the Ministry of Railways in 1925 to design steam locomotives. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 19 | In 1955 Japanese National Railways asked Shima to oversee the Shinkansen project as chief engineer. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 20 | Shima’s team designed the sleek cone-shaped front, inspired by the aircraft of the time. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 2 passed |
| 21 | The bullet train also brought in air suspension and air conditioning. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 22 | The first bullet trains ran at up to 130mph. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 23 | The National Railway Museum in York has Series 0 power car 22-141, built in 1976 and withdrawn in October 2000. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 2 passed |
| 24 | 22-141 was the last car of the first series to be withdrawn from service. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 25 | When new it ran between Tokyo and Osaka in a 16-car train; from 1997 it ran between Hiroshima and Hakata in a four-car train. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 2 passed |
| 26 | The power car is about 25 metres long (82ft) and 3.6 metres wide. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 2 passed |
| 27 | JR West donated it to the National Collection, and more than 100 JR West workers restored it before it came to the UK. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 2 passed |
| 28 | It was the first rail vehicle built and run outside Britain to join Britain’s National Collection. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 29 | The Science Museum Group’s catalogue calls it the only bullet train outside Japan. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 30 | The National Railway Museum’s own page calls it one of only two bullet trains outside Japan. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 1 passed |
| 31 | Professor Roderick Smith of Imperial College London helped arrange the gift of a Series 0 to the museum. | Embassy of Japan in the UK: Shinkansen and the Legacy of Tokyo 1964 (2021) | 1 passed |
| 32 | Its passenger carriage is open to visitors, with a ramp for step-free access. | National Railway Museum: Shinkansen: High-speed revolution | 2 passed |
| 33 | Shinkansen lines now run on the islands of Honshu, Kyushu and Hokkaido. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 34 | The line was extended west from Osaka to Okayama in 1972, and on to Hakata in Fukuoka in 1975. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 35 | Lines north from Tokyo to Niigata (the Joetsu line) and Morioka (the Tohoku line) were finished in 1982. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 36 | The Tohoku line was extended north to Hachinohe in 2002. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 37 | When the line to Aomori opened in 2010, the Shinkansen ran almost the whole length of Honshu. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 38 | A line from Aomori through the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate, on Hokkaido, opened in 2016. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 39 | Work on the section from Hakodate to Sapporo began in 2012 and Britannica expects it to be finished in 2031. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 40 | Branch lines to Yamagata and Akita opened in 1992 and 1997, and a branch to Nagano in 1997. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 3 passed |
| 41 | The Nagano line was extended west to Toyama and Kanazawa in 2015. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 42 | On Kyushu, a line opened between Yatsushiro and Kagoshima in 2004 and the full route north to Hakata in 2011. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 43 | A branch to Nagasaki opened in 2022. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 44 | Much of the track runs in tunnels, including one under the Shimonoseki Strait between Honshu and Kyushu. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 45 | A tunnel near Aomori was a record 26.5km long for a double-track tunnel on land when it was finished in 2005. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 46 | Half of the Sanyo Shinkansen, from Osaka to Hakata, is in tunnels. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 1 passed |
| 47 | The Tohoku Shinkansen opened in 1982 and runs from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori, the longest line JR East runs. | JR East: Tohoku Shinkansen route and train information | 2 passed |
| 48 | Several hundred trains run on the Shinkansen system every day. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 49 | The trains are electric multiple units, powered from overhead wires, and can seat 1,000 passengers or more. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 50 | Every train movement is monitored and controlled by a central computerised centre in Tokyo. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 51 | The first ‘Nozomi’ trains, the Series 300, started running on the Tokaido Shinkansen in March 1992. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Company history | 1 passed |
| 52 | With the Nozomi, Tokyo to Osaka came down to a fastest time of 2 hours 30 minutes. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Integrated Report 2024 (PDF) | 1 passed |
| 53 | The Series 700 joined the Nozomi in March 1999. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Company history | 1 passed |
| 54 | In October 2003 Shinagawa station opened and every Tokaido Shinkansen train’s top speed was raised to 270km/h. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Company history | 2 passed |
| 55 | The Series N700 began Nozomi services in July 2007, and the N700A in February 2013. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Company history | 2 passed |
| 56 | The latest Tokaido type, the N700S, began running on 1 July 2020. | Embassy of Japan in the UK: Shinkansen and the Legacy of Tokyo 1964 (2021) | 2 passed |
| 57 | In 2005 JR West’s 500 Series, with its long nose, was running between Tokyo and Hakata at up to 300km/h. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 2 passed |
| 58 | JR East’s Series E5 began regular running at 320km/h on the Tohoku Shinkansen on 16 March 2013, the fastest speed then allowed for passenger trains in Japan. | Railway Gazette International: JR East introduces 320 km/h running (19 March 2013) | 2 passed |
| 59 | JR East says its E5 trains have run at 320km/h since 16 March 2013. | JR East: Tohoku Shinkansen route and train information | 1 passed |
| 60 | The E5 was designed to bring Tokyo to Shin-Aomori down to 3 hours 5 minutes. | Railway Gazette International: JR East introduces 320 km/h running (19 March 2013) | 1 passed |
| 61 | The E6 ‘Komachi’ runs to Akita, joining the Shinkansen and older lines with no need to change trains. | JR East: Tohoku Shinkansen route and train information | 1 passed |
| 62 | The E8, for Yamagata, began running on 16 March 2024; it has a top speed of 300km/h and a 9-metre nose. | JR East: Tohoku Shinkansen route and train information | 3 passed |
| 63 | ‘Doctor Yellow’ is the nickname of the yellow Shinkansen trains that inspect the track, the overhead wires and the signals. | The Asahi Shimbun: Doctor Yellow train retires after over 20 years of service (30 January 2025) | 1 passed |
| 64 | Seeing one is said to bring good luck, because they run only once every 10 days and their times are never published. | The Asahi Shimbun: Doctor Yellow train retires after over 20 years of service (30 January 2025) | 1 passed |
| 65 | JR Central’s Doctor Yellow made its last run on 28 and 29 January 2025, from Tokyo to Hakata and back, retired because of its age. | The Asahi Shimbun: Doctor Yellow train retires after over 20 years of service (30 January 2025) | 2 passed |
| 66 | JR West’s Doctor Yellow was due to keep running until at least 2027. | The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun): Rail fans flock to see JR Tokai’s retiring Doctor Yellow (30 January 2025) | 1 passed |
| 67 | Engineer Eiji Nakatsu says the bigger challenge was not speed but noise: the faster a train runs, the louder it gets. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 2 passed |
| 68 | Owls fly almost silently, and the saw-toothed edges of their feathers inspired a quieter pantograph, the arm that collects electricity from the wires. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 2 passed |
| 69 | Trains rushing into tunnels made pressure waves that left the far end with a loud boom, heard by people 400 metres away. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 2 passed |
| 70 | A kingfisher dives from air into water without a splash. Tests showed the best nose shape was almost the same as a kingfisher’s beak. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 2 passed |
| 71 | The 500 Series nose is 15 metres long, and it cut air pressure by 30% and electricity use by 15%, while running 10% faster. | Japan for Sustainability: “Shinkansen Technology Learned from an Owl?” The story of Eiji Nakatsu (2005) | 3 passed |
| 72 | About 7 billion people have used the Tokaido Shinkansen since 1964. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 1 passed |
| 73 | It links Japan’s three biggest city areas: Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 1 passed |
| 74 | JR Central says no passenger on board has been killed or injured in a train accident on the Tokaido Shinkansen since it opened. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 1 passed |
| 75 | In the 2023 financial year, its trains’ average delay was 1.6 minutes, counting delays from natural disasters. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 2 passed |
| 76 | The Science Museum Group says that on average bullet trains arrive within 24 seconds of their timetabled time. | Science Museum Group Collection: West Japan Railways Shinkansen ‘Bullet Train’, 1976 (object 2001-7500) | 1 passed |
| 77 | The Tokaido Shinkansen’s top speed today is 285km/h, and the fastest trains take 2 hours 21 minutes from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 2 passed |
| 78 | The top speed was raised to 285km/h on 14 March 2015. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Company history | 1 passed |
| 79 | In the 2023 financial year it ran 372 trains a day and carried 432,000 passengers a day. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 2 passed |
| 80 | Each train has 1,318 seats, or 1,314 on the N700S. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 2 passed |
| 81 | Since March 2020, up to 12 Nozomi trains an hour can run at the busiest times, one every 5 minutes on average. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): Integrated Report 2024 (PDF) | 1 passed |
| 82 | Between Tokyo and Osaka, at rush hour, trains leave every 10 minutes or less. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 83 | JR Central says that per seat, Tokyo to Osaka uses about one-eighth of the energy of a plane, and produces about one-twelfth of the carbon dioxide. | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central): About the Shinkansen | 2 passed |
| 84 | Each car has brakes with cast-iron discs designed not to bend under emergency braking. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 85 | Britannica says trains first ran at up to 210km/h (130mph), and later improvements allowed 240 to 300km/h. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 86 | In early 2013 some trains began running at up to 320km/h (200mph). | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |
| 87 | The fastest trains go from Tokyo to Hakata in about five hours, and from Tokyo to Aomori in about three. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 88 | On 21 April 2015 a Series L0 maglev of JR Central reached 603km/h (374mph) on the Yamanashi Maglev Line, the fastest maglev train on record. | Guinness World Records: Fastest maglev train | 2 passed |
| 89 | The Yamanashi Maglev Line is still a test line. | Guinness World Records: Fastest maglev train | 1 passed |
| 90 | JR Central began building its L0 (‘L zero’) maglev trains in 2010. | Guinness World Records: Fastest maglev train | 1 passed |
| 91 | In April 2015 a maglev also ran 4,064km in a single day, a record for the line. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 1 passed |
| 92 | Tests began on the first 18.4km of the Yamanashi line in April 1997; it was extended to 42.8km in August 2013. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 2 passed |
| 93 | The train is lifted about 10cm (3.9 inches) off the guideway by magnets on the train and coils in the track. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 1 passed |
| 94 | At low speed it runs on rubber wheels, and above about 150km/h (93mph) it lifts off and tucks them away. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 2 passed |
| 95 | Since November 2014 about 80,000 people have ridden the test maglev at 500km/h. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 1 passed |
| 96 | The maglev line will be part of the Chuo Shinkansen, which JR Central says will link Tokyo and Nagoya in as little as 40 minutes and Tokyo and Osaka in 67 minutes. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 2 passed |
| 97 | Chuo Shinkansen trains are planned to have 16 cars, like the Tokaido Shinkansen. | JR Central SCMAGLEV: frequently asked questions | 1 passed |
| 98 | The project missed its first target of 2027 after Shizuoka’s governor opposed a survey; Britannica now gives 2034 for Tokyo to Nagoya. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 99 | The extension to Osaka is planned for 2037, and the line is planned to run at 500km/h. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 2 passed |
| 100 | Britannica says the kingfisher idea was used to cure a tunnel ‘boom’ on Japan’s maglev trains. | Britannica: Shinkansen (with Britannica’s maglev article, on the same page) | 1 passed |