High-speed Rail

1964

Japan’s Tokaido Shinkansen was the first modern high-speed rail, with an operating speed of 285 kilometres per hour. It enabled day trips between Tokyo and Osaka, the two largest metropolises in Japan, changed the style of business and life of Japanese people significantly, and increased new traffic demand. The service was an immediate success, reaching the 100-millionth-passenger mark in less than three years, and one billion passengers by 1976.