Japan launches ‘Hayabusa’ bullet train
JAPAN: Japan’s latest bullet train, the thin-nosed “Hayabusa” or
Falcon, made its 300 kilometre per hour debut Saturday, boasting a
luxury carriage modelled on airline business class. Japan has built up a
network of cutting-edge Shinkansen train lines since the 1960s that
criss-cross the island nation and now hopes to sell the infrastructure
technology abroad, including to the United States.
The latest ultra-fast tech-marvel makes two trips a day from Tokyo to
Aomori, a scenic rural backwater on the northern tip of the main Honshu
island that has until now been off Japan’s bullet train map. It also
makes one more trip a day to Sendai, located between Tokyo and Aomori.
The green-and-silver E5 series Hayabusa travels at up to 300
kilometres per hour to make the 675 kilometre trip in three hours and 10
minutes. From next year, it will push its top speed to 320 kilometres
per hour to become Japan’s fastest train.
The mood at the launch was dampened slightly by a seven minute delay
to the first service after a passenger fell from the platform at Tokyo
station, according to station officials. The train was not moving at the
time.
Passengers will glide quietly along the straight stretches and
tunnels that cut through Japan’s mountainous countryside, said operator
East Japan Railway Co, which has heavily promoted the launch of the new
service.
Those willing to pay 26,360 yen ($320) for a one-way trip can enjoy
the comfort of a ‘GranClass’ car, where a cabin attendant will serve
them drinks and food in their deeply reclining leather seats on thick
woollen carpets.
To promote the service, the train company has also heavily advertised
Aomori as a tourist destination, praising its landscape, seafood and
winter snow.
Japan’s ultra-fast, frequent and punctual bullet trains have made
them the preferred choice for many travellers, rather than flying or
road travel, ever since the first Shinkansen was launched in time for
the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
But as Japan, and its railway companies, struggle with a fast-greying
and shrinking population and falling domestic demand, the government and
industry are aggressively seeking to promote the bullet trains abroad.
Japan has in the past sold Shinkansen technology to Taiwan and hopes
to capture other overseas markets, such as Brazil and Vietnam, but faces
stiff competition from train manufacturers in China, France and Germany.
The biggest prize is a future high-speed US rail network that
President Barack Obama has promoted, to be backed by 13 billion dollars
in public funding. California’s then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was
treated to an early test ride on the Hayabusa when he visited Japan in
September.
Tokyo, Sunday, AFP |