page_title: Shinkansen
section_title: Traditional rail
hierarchical_section_title: Shinkansen / Speed records / Traditional rail
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 新幹線955形電車 (東海旅客鉄道浜松工場で撮影) English: Preserved JR Central Class 955 "300X" experimental shinkansen car 955-6 on display at Hamamatsu Works Open Day
context_page_description: The Shinkansen, 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, 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.
  Over the Shinkansen's 50-plus-year history, carrying over 10 billion passengers, there has been not a single passenger fatality or injury due to train accidents.
  Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of 2,764.6 km of lines with maximum speeds of 240–320 km/h, 283.5 km of Mini-Shinkansen lines with a maximum speed of 130 km/h, and 10.3 km of spur lines with Shinkansen services. The network presently links most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, and Hakodate on northern island of Hokkaido, with an extension to Sapporo under construction and scheduled to commence in March 2031. The maximum operating speed is 320 km/h.
caption: Class 955 "300X"
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