New Shinkansen

[two_heads_talking]

I found this article on the web..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7650627.stm go to picture 5..

I didn't realize they were replacing the older Sinkansen.

[Mike Cash]

I found this article on the web..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7650627.stm go to picture 5..

I didn't realize they were replacing the older Sinkansen.

There are several models of the Shinkansen....which if we think about it pedantically refers to the train lines and not the trains themselves (新幹線). The main reason the photo is interesting is that it highlights the peculiar fact that the factory that makes the cars has no rail connection to transport the cars and they have to be hauled through city streets instead.

[two_heads_talking]

I found this article on the web..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7650627.stm go to picture 5..

I didn't realize they were replacing the older Sinkansen.

There are several models of the Shinkansen....which if we think about it pedantically refers to the train lines and not the trains themselves (新幹線). The main reason the photo is interesting is that it highlights the peculiar fact that the factory that makes the cars has no rail connection to transport the cars and they have to be hauled through city streets instead.

I did find that rather ironic, but didn't realize that was the major focus.. I was also not aware that there was more than one Shinkansen train line.. I thought there was only one and it linked North and South.. Perhaps that is what is was back in 1989 and I just never bothered to keep up with the news..

[chikara]

.... I didn't realize they were replacing the older Sinkansen.

Isn't "new shinkansen" a tautology.

I believe the "new" in the description of that pic also refers to "newly built" not "new design". I'm sure I have seen rolling stock of that design on the Toukaidou Shinkansen and even ridden on one.

[AJBryant]

The main reason the photo is interesting is that it highlights the peculiar fact that the factory that makes the cars has no rail connection to transport the cars and they have to be hauled through city streets instead.

Irony is a sweet, sweet thing.


Tony

[NocturnalOcean]

I found this article on the web..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7650627.stm go to picture 5..

I didn't realize they were replacing the older Sinkansen.

There are several models of the Shinkansen....which if we think about it pedantically refers to the train lines and not the trains themselves (新幹線). The main reason the photo is interesting is that it highlights the peculiar fact that the factory that makes the cars has no rail connection to transport the cars and they have to be hauled through city streets instead.

I did find that rather ironic, but didn't realize that was the major focus.. I was also not aware that there was more than one Shinkansen train line.. I thought there was only one and it linked North and South.. Perhaps that is what is was back in 1989 and I just never bothered to keep up with the news..

There are plenty of lines(even back in 1989).

"In 1964 the first Shinkansen, the Tokaido Line, opened between Tokyo and Osaka, paralleling the renowned Tokaido Road that had linked Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto in samurai times. Later this line was extended beyond Osaka as the Sanyo Line to reach Hiroshima and Fukuoka."

Take a look at this page for more information:

http://www.japanrail.com/JR_shinkansen.html

[Harisenbon]

Speaking of the hauling the trains through the streets:

When the new N-700 Trains started to make their appearance last year (new design, electrical sockets at all seats, and wifi coming next spring) JR and their hauling company had a bunch of commercials on TV showing them transporting the trains through the city rows.

Don't know why, but watching them haul those train cars through huge metropolitan streets was really moving.

[Mike Cash]

The main reason the photo is interesting is that it highlights the peculiar fact that the factory that makes the cars has no rail connection to transport the cars and they have to be hauled through city streets instead.

Irony is a sweet, sweet thing. :)


Tony

I got a big metallic taste of irony this morning when I heard George Jones doing a cover of Roy Acuff's classic The Wreck on the Highway.

More on topic, though. We're so used to 線 being something we tack onto the name of a train line that most of us probably tend to think of it (if at all) as Shinkan-sen, when in fact it should be Shin-kansen. Kansen (幹線) merely refers to a "main line" and also has non-railroad use, as in the term 幹線道路.