Tag - rail

 
 

RAIL

Sections of the outer loop of Tokyo's Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line will be shut down all day Saturday, and from the start of service through around noon on Sunday.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2025
Parts of Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines to be suspended over weekend
The suspensions come as JR East pushes ahead with its Haneda Airport Access Line project.
When a bomber holds a high-speed train to ransom, it’s left to conductor Kazuya Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) and his colleagues to save the day in “Bullet Train Explosion.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2025
'Bullet Train Explosion’: High-speed disaster movie doesn’t get the pulse racing
Netflix’s most lavish Japanese movie to date whizzes by without doing much damage to the image of the high-speed rail it’s promoting.
A rendering of East Japan Railway's E10 series of bullet trains
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2025
Japan to give India E5 and E3 shinkansen for free
The E10 trains are expected to be put into service in the South Asian country in the early 2030s.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore during an interview in Tokyo. The governor is in Japan on a four-day trade and investment mission.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025
Maryland governor talks trains and trade while in Japan
Gov. Wes Moore said he believes the Northeast Maglev — which may use technology from Japan — could transform the region's economy.
Overcrowded trains and a lack of legal consequences for groping in Japan have led to a rise in "chikan," or groping, which has been linked to a mental condition and compounded by cultural stigmas.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 13, 2025
'Chikan' incidents rise as Japan grapples with mental health and cultural challenges
The governments of the U.K. and Canada have warned their citizens traveling to Japan that they could experience inappropriate physical contact — or "chikan" — on crowded trains
A poster calling for the earlier extension of the Hokkaido Shinkansen line to Sapporo is seen in the city's Chuo Ward in May.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Mar 31, 2025
Hokkaido's rail network faces tough challenges
Falling ridership is putting pressure on JR Hokkaido to close underutilized local lines even as it struggles to complete the Hokkaido Shinkansen.
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2025
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
The station building in Wakayama Prefecture is the world's first to be built with 3D printer technology, West Japan Railway said.
Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 17, 2025
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo
Thirty years after Aum Shinrikyo attacked Tokyo’s subways, the nation continues to prepare for the unthinkable.
People celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the conventional railway line running in parallel with the extended Hokuriku Shinkansen at Fukui Station on Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2025
Hokuriku Shinkansen extension marks first anniversary
Sunday was also the first anniversary of the opening of the conventional railway line running in parallel with the shinkansen extension.
A bullet train at Tsuruga Station on March 16 last year, the day the Hokuriku Shinkansen line was extended to Fukui
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2025
Fukui enjoys visitor boost after shinkansen extension
About 6.42 million people visited Fukui between March 16 last year and Feb. 15 this year, up by about 1 million from a year before.
Rail enthusiasts and local residents hold up a specially designed banner for arriving and departing trains at Higashi-Nemuro Station in Nemuro, Hokkaido, on Friday, the station's final day of operation.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025
People bid farewell to Japan's easternmost train station
As the number of users is unlikely to recover from a prolonged decline, JR Hokkaido has decided to close the station.
The Tohoku Shinkansen coupled trains at Tokyo Station on Friday
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2025
JR East resumes coupled shinkansen operations
The company halted such train operations on the Tohoku line after a pair of coupled trains suddenly became detached while traveling in Tokyo.
The Hayabusa (left) and Komachi bullet trains seen making an emergency stop in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward on March 6 after becoming unfastened
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025
Tohoku Shinkansen to resume coupled train operations on Friday
JR East suspended operating coupled trains after two bullet trains suddenly came unfastened last week.
Yumeshima Station, connected directly to the Osaka Expo venue's east gate, opened in January on Osaka Metro's Chuo subway line.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2025
Osaka Expo organizers working on ways around traffic gridlock
The association expects daily visitors to peak at 220,000, with some 130,000 forecast to use Osaka Metro's Chuo subway line.
Tokyo Metro President Akiyoshi Yamamura (front) and others observe a moment of silence near the site of the accident in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2025
Tokyo Metro marks 25th year since deadly derailment
The subway derailment accident on March 8, 2000, killed five passengers and injured 64 others.
The Tohoku Shinkansen made an emergency stop after the two trains became detached on Thursday in Tokyo's Arakawa Ward.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2025
Tohoku Shinkansen trains decoupled during service again
No passengers on the two trains were harmed, according to East Japan Railway.
An image of the next-generation E10 bullet train that is expected to be put into commercial service between Tokyo and the Tohoku region in fiscal 2030
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2025
JR East to develop E10 series shinkansen train
JR East aims to put the next-generation shinkansen series into commercial service in fiscal 2030, with each E10 train having 10 cars.
JR East started the services in Minamiboso and Tateyama, cities in Chiba Prefecture, on Monday and will begin them in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, in the second half of this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025
JR East to offer ride-hailing services at limited locations
The firm started the services in the cities of Minamiboso and Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture on Monday, and will begin them in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, later this year.
On March 21, 1925, a front page headline announced that the Tokyo Radio Broadcasting Bureau, the precursor to NHK, had begun operations with a communications range of 50 kilometers.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Mar 1, 2025
Japan Times 1925: Government sanctions official broadcasting station, the precursor to NHK
Japan’s first official broadcasting station began operating 100 years ago, setting a new precedent for the speed of communication and news.
The luxury Seven Stars in Kyushu train trades the hyper-efficiency of typical rail travel in Japan for a slower, more decadent version.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2025
Aboard Japan’s most luxurious train, the journey is the destination
For those with yen to burn, the Seven Stars in Kyushu is one of the most luxurious ways to experience some of southern Japan’s best hidden gems.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.