Central Japan Railway Co. conducted a test run for the press Wednesday of its new battery-powered shinkansen, a world for high-speed rail.
JR Central said it hopes the technology will be useful in emergencies that might otherwise leave trains stranded in tunnels or on bridges during an extended power outage. In such an emergency, battery-powered shinkansen would be able to proceed to the nearest station.
The N700S train, set to debut in July 2020, is able to carry batteries on the underside of its carriages due to the reduced size of other technology and equipment.
The test run was held for media at a rail yard in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture.
