Mini-shinkansen (ããæ°å¹¹ç·) is the name given to the concept of converting 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge railway lines to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1â2 in) standard gauge for use by shinkansen train services in Japan. Unlike the high-speed Shinkansen lines, the mini-Shinkansen lines have a maximum speed of 130 km/h (80 mph). Two mini-Shinkansen routes have been constructed: the Yamagata Shinkansen and Akita Shinkansen.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier
Akita Shinkansen in the context of TÅhoku Shinkansen
The TÅhoku Shinkansen (æ±åæ°å¹¹ç·) is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that runs through the more sparsely populated TÅhoku region of Japan's main island, Honshu. Operated by the East Japan Railway Company, it links Tokyo in the south to Aomori in the north, with stops in population centers such as Morioka, Koriyama, Fukushima, Hachinohe, and Sendai. With a route length of 674.9 km (419.4 mi), it is Japan's longest Shinkansen line. It also has the highest operating speeds on the Shinkansen network, reaching a maximum of 320 km/h (199 mph) on a 387.5 km (241 mi) section between Utsunomiya and Morioka.
The first section of the TÅhoku Shinkansen opened in 1982 between Åmiya and Morioka, with additional sections gradually built over the following decades; the final section between Hachinohe and Shin-Aomori was completed in 2010. A continuation of the line opened as the Hokkaido Shinkansen in 2016, which links Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto via the Seikan Tunnel. The TÅhoku Shinkansen also has two Mini-Shinkansen branch lines, the Yamagata Shinkansen and Akita Shinkansen. Future plans include ongoing upgrade work to increase operating speeds throughout the line.