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From The Times

April 24, 2004

Faster than a speeding bullet and punctual, too

Most visitors to Japan will make use of the shinkansen, the bullet trains, says Steve Keenan

MOST visitors to Japan will make use of the shinkansen, the bullet trains, which sprint from the Tokyo hub to all ends of the country. Boarding a train in Tokyo at 8.21am, I arrived in Hiroshima, via Osaka and Kyoto, a 900km (560-mile) journey, exactly on time at 12.19pm.

What I hadn’t expected was the ease in negotiating my way around Tokyo’s vast Shinagawa station. Across the rail network and on board trains, signs are now in English — even the loos have instructions in English. There are also seatback train maps. Babies can be changed in the multi-purpose room in carriage 11, which is also for passengers who “do not feel good”.

If all that isn’t clear enough, announcements are made in English. It is a courtesy that has extended beyond the railways: on a tram in Hiroshima, a recorded message in English explained where to alight for the A-bomb Museum, adding a reminder to pay the 150 yen (75p) fare on disembarking.

Trains in Japan are easy to use. You even know where to wait, as carriage numbers are painted on the platform. Our Nozomi super express from Tokyo to Hakata was a 16-carriage train extending almost 800 metres (2,625ft). Two carriages were for those without reservations and four were for smokers. There are vending machines and a trolley for those who forgot to buy bento lunchboxes at the station.

Switzerland and France can rival the metronomic timekeeping, cleanliness and rolling stock. But neither is planning a train without wheels.

Successful tests have been carried out on a driverless train which is propelled forward in a concrete trench by magnetic levitation, with only a 10cm (4in) gap to the “track” and an 8cm separation to the side walls. The plan is to blast a 500km/h (310mph) line through mountains between Tokyo and Osaka, cutting journey times in half to just one hour. If Russia had a maglev train, the seven-day TransSiberian journey could be reduced to 18 hours.

No jokes about Britain’s railways, please.

TAKE A SLOW TRAIN

A FEW of them may be very fast and all of them are punctual - but don't overlook the fact that some of Japan's smaller railway attractions are just outside your window.

Few things could be more misleadingly named that the Express that travels along the Kansai Honsen line from Osaka to the religious centre on the mountain of Koya-San.

It takes two hours and seems to stop every two minutes, but at least gives you time to admire the view as it winds through the mountains covered in a mantle of densely wooded trees, the track running alongside the villages and through the forest.

Equally charming is the Hakone Tozan Line, between Odawara and Gora, an hour or so west of Tokyo. The train literally zigzags up the mountain, with the conductor getting out at each station to change to what has now become the front of the train.

It's not exactly fast - train times have to take account of the conductor running up and down the platform- but in summer you can sit back and smell the hydrangeas.