Faster than a Speeding Bullet: An Overview of Japanese High-Speed Rail Technology and Electrification

Fortunately, Japan's big cities have embraced electrified railways as a major method of transportation since the early 20th century. According to the results of Japanese government research, electric railways convey more than 90% of the total person trips of the whole railway system, which carries about 30% of all the person trips in Japan (with the remainder carried 54% by car, 7% by bus, and 7% by air). Thus, we can consider the electric railway to be one of the backbone technologies of Japanese life.