Who are the "fathers" of the Japanese Shinkansen (bullet train) idea?
Who Invented the First High-Speed Train? Chief Engineer Hideo Shima and Japanese Railways President Shinji Sogou are behind the idea of the high-speed rail network. At that time, investments in America and European countries were mostly made in developing air and highways. However...
However, Shinji Sogou deeply believed that railways were more suitable for Japan's mountain-rich geography, and in line with this idea, he persuaded the government to invest in the development of railways.
Shinkansen's first flight coincided with the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Two trains, one from Tokyo and the other from Shin-Osaka station arrived at the opposite stations at a speed of 222 km/h. This event enabled Japan to become one of the most advanced technologies in the world.
Hideo Shima (20 May 1901 – 18 March 1998) was a Japanese engineer and the driving force behind the building of the first bullet train (Shinkansen). Shima was born in Osaka in 1901, and educated at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he studied Mechanical Engineering. His father was part of a group of officials that had built up Japan's emerging railroad industry.
Who invented the bullet train?
The invention of the high-speed train was the result of the work of many people. However modern high-speed rail technology was generally developed by engineers in Japan.
In Japan, the first high-speed train, the Shinkansen, began operating as a commercial service in 1964. Shinkansen has been continuously improved since then, becoming the technology that today sets the standard for high-speed trains worldwide.
The invention of the Shinkansen was the result of the work of many engineers and researchers. However, it is known that Japanese engineers Shinji Sogō, Hideo Shima, and Kazuji Ishii have carried out important work on high-speed train technology.
Therefore, modern high-speed train technology was developed through the work of many people and under the leadership of Japanese engineers.
The first “0 series shinkansen” rode on wide, 400-meter single-piece rails to minimize shocks and vibrations. These trains had sealed windows like airplanes and improved suspension and aerodynamics. These trains had a new system in which each wagon had its own electric motor, instead of the locomotive system that pulled all the wagons in the classical trains. 0 series bullet trains could travel the Toukaidou line between Tokyo and Osaka in 4 hours, while conventional trains took 6 hours. This line decreased to 2 hours with the introduction of Nozomi Shinkansen. The straightest line possible was created using more than 3000 bridges and 67 tunnels to enable trains to reach the highest possible speeds.
The development of Shinkansen continued with new models that could reach speeds of 320 km/h and became the fastest trains in the world, surpassing the French TGV and German ICE trains. The next step of the Shinkansen's development will be MagLev (Magnetic Levitation) technology, in which the train moves on magnets. These new Chuo shinkansens are planned to move at speeds of over 500km/h between Tokyo and Nagoya. In this way, it is aimed to reduce the time between Tokyo and Nagoya from 104 minutes to 40 minutes.
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Hideo Shima and the Bullet Train
https://scihi.org/hideo-shima-bullet-train/
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Remembering Hideo Shima: Facts on the man who gave us bullet trains
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/hideo-shima-bullet-train-978189-2017-05-20