The Tokaido Shinkansen (東海道新幹線) is a high-speed line run by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) between Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and Shin-Osaka Station in Yodogawa ward, Osaka. It opened on 1 October 1964 as the world's first high-speed railway.
History
Japanese National Railways (JNR) set up a study committee on 10 May 1956 to test whether a Tokaido Shinkansen was possible. A talk on 30 May 1957 titled 'Tokyo to Osaka in three hours' made the high-speed rail idea widely known. The cabinet approved the construction plan on 19 December 1958. Work on adding track to the Tokaido Main Line was approved on 13 April 1959. Construction began on 20 April 1959 with a groundbreaking at the east entrance of the Shin-Tanna Tunnel. On 2 May 1961 the World Bank approved a loan for the project, to be repaid over 20 years.
Work went on through 1962. The track groundbreaking took place on 15 March 1962. The Kamonomiya model line was finished in May 1962, and test runs began on it on 23 June 1962. On 21 June 1962 the Hamamatsu works was designated as a Shinkansen vehicle inspection works. On 21 April 1964 the Tokyo operations depot was set up near the present Shinagawa station. On 1 July 1964 the whole Tokyo to Shin-Osaka line was joined, with a rail-joining ceremony in Kawasaki. Full-line test runs began on 25 July 1964.
The Tokyo to Shin-Osaka section opened on 1 October 1964 with 1-1 timetable service. 0 series trains of 12 cars ran at a top speed of 200 km/h. Hikari took 4 hours and Kodama 5 hours. At opening the line had 12 stations and one signal station. On 15 April 1965 the first platform at Shin-Osaka came into use. On 27 September 1965 Mishima signal station opened. On 1 October 1965 Hikari and Kodama were run at 30-minute intervals. On 1 November 1965 Hikari took 3 hours 10 minutes and Kodama 4 hours, after the track bed had settled.
In 1967 a 3-3 timetable was introduced, with Hikari and Kodama every 20 minutes. Mishima signal station became Mishima station in April 1969. On 8 December 1969 Hikari began running with 16-car trains. On 15 March 1972 the Sanyo Shinkansen (山陽新幹線) opened from Shin-Osaka to Okayama, with Hikari and Kodama every 15 minutes and some Hikari trains running through to Okayama. On 10 March 1975 it reached Hakata. A temporary timetable was used because Tokyo station's platform works were not finished. From July 1975, once Tokyo station had three platforms in use, Hikari and Kodama ran every 12 minutes, and some Hikari trains ran through to the Sanyo line.
On 21 February 1973 an empty train from the Osaka depot at Torikai derailed. The accident happened under automatic train control (ATC), and it became an issue. On 11 December 1974 services were stopped in the morning for a special inspection of the new line, and four such inspections were done by February 1975. From 26 November to 3 December 1975 a strike over the right to strike stopped the Shinkansen for 8 days. On 6 April 1980 a wire broke between Nagoya and Gifu-Hashima, and Tokyo to Hakata was cut off until the evening, about 7 hours in all. From 1 October 1980 some Hikari trains stopped at Odawara, Hamamatsu, Toyohashi and Gifu-Hashima. On 14 March 1985 the timetable was revised, and Hikari ran from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in 3 hours 8 minutes. On 1 October 1985 the 100 series, with double-deck cars, entered service.
On 1 November 1986 the last timetable under JNR raised the top speed to 220 km/h and set the Tokyo to Shin-Osaka Hikari at 2 hours 56 minutes. On 1 April 1987 JNR was split into JR companies and the Shinkansen Holding Organization (新幹線保有機構) was set up. The whole Tokaido Shinkansen passed to JR Central. The 13 March 1988 timetable opened Shin-Fuji, Kakegawa and Mikawa-Anjo stations. On 11 March 1989 a four-car double-deck Grand Hikari, a JR West train, appeared. On 1 October 1991 JR Central bought the Shinkansen facilities from the Holding Organization, which was then dissolved. In February 1992 the 100 series was withdrawn and the 300 series took over. On 14 March 1992 the 300 series began service on the Nozomi (のぞみ), with a top speed of 270 km/h and Tokyo to Shin-Osaka in 2 hours 30 minutes. Nozomi trains began running through to Hakata on 18 March 1993. On 17 January 1995 the Hyogo earthquake (Great Hanshin earthquake) cut the line between Kyoto and Shin-Osaka. Services resumed at 12:30 on 20 January, and through running to the Sanyo line restarted on 8 April 1995. On 29 November 1997 the 500 series entered service on the line. On 13 March 1999 the 700 series began running as Nozomi, and the 0 series made its farewell runs and left service on 18 September 1999. In March 2000 the dining car and buffet service ended. On 11 September 2000 heavy rain (Tokai flood) stopped services between Tokyo and Maibara, and one Nozomi reached Tokyo 22 hours 21 minutes late, the worst delay since the line opened.
On 1 October 2003 Shinagawa station opened and the timetable was changed to make Nozomi the main service. Every train from Tokyo now stopped at either Shinagawa or Shin-Yokohama, and the nonstop Tokyo to Nagoya Nozomi ended. All trains on the line then ran at 270 km/h. On 1 July 2007 the N700 series started, cutting Tokyo to Shin-Osaka to as little as 2 hours 25 minutes. A fire beside the line stopped all services for about 5 hours on 3 January 2014. On 14 March 2015 some Nozomi began running at 285 km/h, with the fastest Tokyo to Shin-Osaka time at 2 hours 22 minutes. In December 2017 a crack in a bogie of a Nozomi was found at Nagoya, and the Japan Transport Safety Board classed it as a serious incident, the first of its kind on the Shinkansen. On 22 July 2024 a collision between maintenance vehicles caused a derailment near Toyohashi, and trains did not run between Hamamatsu and Nagoya that day. On 1 March 2020 the 700 series ended service on the line, and the N700S started on 1 July 2020. On 16 March 2024 the smoking rooms were removed. In February 2025 the Wonderful Dreams Shinkansen, a special livery train made with Oriental Land, began running. On 14 March 2026 the timetable was changed again to add Nozomi in some time bands. For fares, Tokyo to Atami is now treated as a separate route from the Tokaido Main Line.
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Written by an AI from the line's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.