The first bullet train
By the 1950s the old narrow-gauge line between Tokyo and Osaka was overloaded, and the Japanese National Railways decided to build a new line, not an improvement of the old one. It would have a standard gauge, no level crossings, continuous welded rails and electric trains with the power spread along the train instead of concentrated in a locomotive.
The Tokaido Shinkansen opened on 1 October 1964, ten days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. It connected Tokyo and Osaka, about 515 kilometres, with trains running at up to 210 kilometres an hour, and cut the journey from about six and a half hours to four, and the line was an immediate success.
A model for others
The Shinkansen proved that a railway could compete with the aeroplane and the motorway on routes of a few hundred kilometres. It inspired high-speed lines in France, which opened the first TGV route between Paris and Lyon in 1981, in Germany, Spain and then in China. The Japanese network is known for its punctuality, measured in seconds, and for its safety record: in its history no passenger has been killed in a collision or derailment of a Shinkansen train.