Keeping the Best for the Last: Shinkansen Bullet Ride.

This is the last weekend before I fly back to Bangalore on Thursday evening. With Aonami line ,SCMaglev And Railway Park ticked off in the first weekend, the second weekend concentrated on the Nagoya Subway exploration.Third weekend was dedicated to the Meitetsu Commuter Lines and the Kintetsu Short Haul Commuter section.JR commuter Lines were identical to the Meitetsu and I had seen them criss cross multiple times.So, naturally the last weekend had to do the most exciting part of a Railfans’ dream when travelling to Japan. JR Central, the company which operates the Shinkansen Bullet trains offers you three varieties of these in operation. Kodama, Hikari and Nozomi.

Though all the three operate with same trainsets nowadays and the fares are identical, the only difference is of time and stops. While I had done a Shinkansen ride last year from Odawara near Mount Fuji to Tokyo, returning back from Nagoya without a ride in it again would have been a sin.I didn't want to travel out too far as fares on the Shinkansen are on the higher side and also it gets monotonous after a few minutes as you just keep seeing scenery skipping without even being able to adore it. High speeds are exciting for a few minutes and after that it gets boring due to almost Aircraft like cabin and minimalistic sound of tracks or trains from outside. Many places around cities have View Cutters and Sound Barriers thus making viewing out difficult. All said and done, a ride in Shinkansen for the sheer experience is a must and I highly recommend this to all.

Nagoya is a compulsory stop for all types of Bullet trains. Nozomi can travel directly to Kyoto (40 min ride) and burn away 3500 Yen one way. (Approx : Rs 3000) and being out far, returning will also have to be in bullet train and that would mean a cool 7000 Yen down in  1 hr 20 min. Kodama had closer stops on the ride to Gifu towards Osaka or at Mikawa-anjo towards Tokyo. But those were barely 10 min ride . But, the  good part was both stations had Meitetsu trains and one can ride back in a lesser speed and lower cost train to Nagoya back. Again the cost was almost 2000 Yen for a return trip.And more importantly, I wasn't sure if Bullet can reach high MPS within that short time frame.

So Hikari came to my rescue. Towards Tokyo, Hikari runs one in an hour on weekends, in between the Nozomis which almost run within a gap of 8 min along with Kodamas . Basically, if you stand at the Bullet train platforms there is a bullet every 4 minutes.Frantic search on multiple private railways maps and calculating fares led me to a website, hyperdia.com.

Its a very simple site and of great help to people who have zero Japanese knowledge.The interface is simple, you can select any stations, date and hour of travel and then choose as many filters as possible and it will give you all options like Airways, commuter trains, buses, pvt railways and even bullet trains. Its a Trivago of railways search.I settled for Nagoya to Toyohashi a ride of 19 min covering 72.4 km with an average of 230kmph from start to stop and the MPS of around 280 kmh.

Tickets have a base fare of 1320 yen for this 19 min ride with a compulsory add on of 980 for unreserved seat(3*2 seating), 2000 more for a reserved seat(same 3*2 seating but with a reserved seat number printed) and around 3000 for a Green Seat(2*2 Executive styled). I picked the unreserved seat at 1320+980 Yen one way.

A little bit of research meant that I can very well go with a Unreserved seat booking as at prime stations like Nagoya one does have a good chance to get a window in non festival days.For me, Toyohashi was preferable as I could ride back in a normal Meitetsu commuter taking around 55 min for the same 72.4 km ride at a cheaper fare in a Limited Express with 6 stops . A slightly different alignment though.

 I walked down from my apartment to Nagoya a 5 min leisurely walk adhering to all road signals, otherwise this could be a 2 min walk in India. Used my Credit Card on the Ticket Vending Machine to buy myself a Hikari Ticket to be departing from pf 14.There are 4 pfs (2 island styled 14,15,16,17 numbered) dedicated platforms to Bullet trains for Tokyo and Osaka. There were 2 Nozomis scheduled from same pf before mine arrived. There are platform screens to prevent trespassing onto the tracks. The tracks looked SG Gauge and OHE was charged to 25KV

Commuters waiting patiently at the Mall within the Station to open its doors at 10 am.

That's my train indicated in Red

OHE 

Ticket for the ride.

A typical station  with restrooms, smoking rooms and convenience store on the bullet train platform.

I captured the other trains till mine arrived. People as usual queued up for entering the train in true Japanese Style. In a 16 car ( twin 8 car train sets coupled) , cars 1-3 are non reserved in Nozomis and in Hikari cars 1-5 are non reserved. I queued up for car 4. To be the first one to enter to get a window at the earliest. In a 16 car set, except for the first and last car all the 14 cars have traction motors powered bogies and that gives the Bullet trains the power to accelerate and decelerate so quickly. The nose is a mix of science and art. It looks so beautiful and the livery of white with blue stripe is so simple yet stunning . It glitters in the sunshine.

A Panoramic Shot of the 16 coach bullet  train at Nagoya.

Goods trains speeding through Nagoya

Auto door closing mechanism

 Finally, Hikari arrived and I was lucky to get a window seat 1E . Settled down and a typical chair car layout consisted of 3*2 seating and 18 rows making it 90 seater. 

3 x 2 Seating

Very good Leg room

The coach composition with a smoking room and adjacent coach for Trash and Toilet is schematically given behind each seat for ease of access.

We start right on time. I had placed my phone sticking to the glass window to get an uninterrupted shot of the run till it achieves MPS.We depart and whoosh... It accelerates like a rocket out and there is no slowdown , simply gaining speed per second till it reaches MPS .

Speedometer and the stats while we rush past the suburbs.

View cutters are a dampener at certain places but otherwise the movement is too fast for our eyes to register them.The cabin is completely silent and the only slight noise you might here is when we cross another Bullet on the opposite track, which comes and goes like another whooshh.

The outskirts of Nagoya are green and full of paddy fields but, there is no dearth of infrastructure development. Roads, Highways and basic infrastructure looks well built.The ride last about 18 min and a few seconds and well in time, we reach Toyohashi as promised by Japanese Punctuality.

One more to relish the memories.

Approaching Toyohashi. See how commuters line up to enter. You can also see a lot of JR Maintenance Wagons waiting.

Nozomi headed to Tokyo.

Nozomi headed to Osaka.

Satisfied with all the video shots, I head back to the FOB and check out of the JR lines to get to the Meitetsu platform without any tickets. I had a Manaca IC Card but it was not getting checked in. I inquired with station staff but, they were of no good use as they didn't understand a single word. I returned back to FOB and checked with a JR official and he said to carry in to the Meitetsu train and don't worry till I get out at Nagoya as it will be dealt there. Meitetsu platform entry didn't have IC Card readers capable of reading my transfer probably as I had not ventured out of the station  at Toyohashi but on his recommendation I walked into a Meitetsu Commuter train which had 6 stops to Nagoya in a 55 min ride.

At Nagoya, I tried walking out and naturally the doors closed on me. An official directed me to the Fare Adjustment counter where he asked me the originating station for the ride. He did something on the reader at his console with my Card on it and asked me to try walking out again. I was successful in doing so. Thanked him with a head nod with a bent back and walked back to my apartment.Thats all folks on my Japanese adventures.

For Railfans: No matter where we go , we are always on the look out for  trains. Other things are too mainstream for us. Hope you enjoyed this longish blog.

Meitetsu & Kintetsu Commuter Lines of Nagoya

I am back with another set of stories from Nagoya. As you are aware 1st weekend was spent at the SCMaglev and Railway Park after travelling on the private line from Nagoya to Kunji-foto called the Aonami line. Second weekend was spent on thrilling rides through the Maglev or the Linimo Line.Followed by a sprint across all the Subway lines of Nagoya. 3rd weekend plan was to traverse the largest private railways player in Nagoya called the Meitetsu Railroads. My first trip on Meitetsu commuter lines was from the Chubu Airport or the Centrair Airport on the artificial Island to Nagoya Station.So without much ado, let me share the map of Meitetsu commuter lines for easy reference ( well not so easy with Japanese names and so many lines).

If you add the Nagoya Subway , Aonami, Linimo, Kintetsu and JR lines, you know how difficult this one will be to read.

I had been looking for a cheap ride option on the Meitetsu line like a one day pass(which i used on the Nagoya Subway lines).But, there was no such facility here. It is expensive to travel and can easily burn a minimum 500 Yen for a return trip on the smallest section. Anyways, neither did I have any choice nor did I want to return back after having a golden opportunity to ride these. So, I settled for the Manaca IC cards, which is pretty much like a Go Mumbai Card which can be used on almost all lines and appropriate fare is deducted at Automatic Fare Collection gates.

I started around 11:30 am with an aim to touch at least the vertices of all the diverging lines on the Meitetsu Railroad network. I charged the Manaca IC card with 2000 Yen to cover for my expenses of the day.Nagoya is like a super structure station which houses all the lines under one ambit. So we have all the platforms scattered and all are numbered by the private rail entities.It can be damn confusing to find out especially with too much of pointers everywhere and to make matters worse not everything is in English.

Red Livery Meitetsu Commuter waiting to start from Nagoya. Its a Dual Discharge platform but same platforms are used with space differentiators to segregate crowd.

So a platform is long enough to accommodate two 6 coacher trains with a space between the 2 trains for segregation at halt positions.This helps in crowd segregation while they wait at different locations on the same platform for their respective trains to different destinations.

I took a train to Saya on the south west corner of the map with a plan to get off at Sukaguchi.Seating inside the car is an all cushioned affair with a dated feel.

As we head out of Nagoya, we come out of Underground Station and go on elevated stretches. Centrair Meitetsu train  can be seen in the above video.

If you zoom in, you might see the Shinkansen speeding over another bridge in the distance. They use completely different alignments.

There are 4 car and 6 car consists with every 2nd coach having a pantograph.

After my first stop, I decide to head towards the North. There are local trains, semi express, express and limited express trains, all varying as per their stopping patterns.

Some of the newer Meitetsu trains also have longitudinal seating.I noticed that there are loop platforms at most limited stop stations with a 2 coacher local waiting for people to disembark and get into this smaller local to smaller wayside stations.

While going to Gifu, I had to get off at Ichinomiya and then take the above train ride to Gifu. These look much newer to those old red livery ones.I was about to get a ride up front soon. Instead of sitting inside, I decided to stand by the partition which separates the Motorman from passengers and noticed that the train is pulled at a maximum speed of 120kmph.

That's the view from here and motorman is standing on the left

It was like playing Microsoft Train Simulator, standing at the front.This was an express to Gifu, skipping some small stations, if you notice there was a freight movement on the extreme right towards the middle of the above video. We were hitting 120 kmph.

A zoomed pic of the Motorman console

One more crossing

This bridge had a PSR, I could notice the motorman refer to a document placed at his shoulder height and dropping speed instantly.

At Gifu, I had to change trains and this small miniscule 2 coach train was ready to take me to Inuyama on the Green line.

One of the many videos while waiting at Gifu.

 Different generations of Meitetsu Trains.

These seats can be moved into the direction of travel, which is so thoughtful.

 Some sections use Concrete sleepers whereas some are using wooden sleepers.

For those who are interested in the overhead apparatus.

I went all the way to Shinauto in the south and came back thus touching almost all the vertices. It was almost 4 pm and there was more time for action before sunset approaches, I came back to Nagoya and tried the Kintetsu pvt railways.They are supposed to go far and wide beyond the Aichi Region into Osaka and Kyoto. Technically they are serving more places in Japan than any other as they cross regions much like JR Shinkansen. But Kintetsu lines are far more deeper than JR which run only on core high speed routes.

Kintetsu have some amazing livery trains.To confuse you further here is Kintetsu railway map for Nagoya, which is on the far north east side of this map. I am headed to Kuwana the first yellow vertex from Nagoya.

Thats a Kintetsu local train at Kuwana which stops at all stations enroute.

An older 2 coach train waiting for a small spur called Okaisi

 The seats are 2X2 and trains are longer in Kintetsu Main line trains.

There are some coaches with reserved cars too. To all ICF fans who would like to see one doors in one coach, there are some like that here.

This is the limited express to Nagoya at Kuwana and if you need to board this then you can purchase an additional ticket on the platform itself and board it.

Limited express with Double Decker in its consist. The windows are vistadome type. Lower deck also accomodate commuters but is primarily acting as a pantry.

A normal express to Nagoya.

 Guard's View at the rear.

This line crosses a lot of bridges as its near the sea port.

One of the major bridges captured on my phone, while we head back to Nagoya.

The above video shows you the river and lot of paddy fields on the outskirts of Nagoya. Rice is a major cereal used by Japanese. You can also spot a carshed.

This one runs to some popular tourist destination and I was in complete awe of its design, the windows and the double decker coaches as well as the nose of the train also looks so different. We can also spot some other railfans.Coolest thing about Japanese trains is that nobody bothers to stop you from clicking pictures or videos, unlike India. In fact, they are very proud of their trains.

Then I came across this with its curvy design and cute little diamond pantograph.In the Underground sections, they use rail overhead instead of wires as done in some sections of DMRC.Its 7 pm  by now and I head back home.

There is one more weekend to go and I hope to ride the Shinkansen before heading back to Bengaluru. Fingers Crossed. Thank you for your patience.

Exploring the Maglev and Subway Lines of Nagoya

It's been a fortnight since I started living here in Nagoya, Japan. First weekend was fruitfully spent in exploring the SCMaglev and Railway Park. I woke up late, lazing around on the bed and reading up all the emails accumulated overnight. There was an urgent task assigned to me wherein I had to rush to the hotel to restart one of the servers. By the time I reached office, it was 12 noon and after completing the assigned task, I decided to complete some pending task for my parent hotel, Conrad Bengaluru. Eventually, I spent around 2 hours at work before logging off and deciding to walk back to my apartment.

I was in 2 minds of what exactly to do for the remaining part of the day. I decided to head to the Nagoya Science Museum and Planetarium(World’s Largest, it seems). This place was leisurely walk from Hilton Nagoya. With Google Maps to my rescue, I headed blindly to where it took me. No questions asked. Here is my first glimpse of this magnificent structure. The entry fee was Yen 800 for the Science Museum and the Planetarium. Closing time was 17:00. I knew, I couldn't do justice to the place in those 2.5 hours which I had with me. 

So, I decided to not venture in but leave it for a day where I could start early. In the park adjoining the museum, I could see a relic from the past, an old railcar as well as the semaphore signals.

I didn't want to walk back to my apartment but keep exploring. One look at the google maps indicated that I was just 400 metres from the Nagoya Subway Station, Fushimi. The railfan in me had started kicking in and making plans. I decided to wander on this subway network and travel as far and wide as I could in a day.  At the vending machine, I could see an option to purchase one day pass for Yen 600. That gives me unlimited access to all the Subway lines till the end of the day. The Nagoya Subway stations looks old and not swanky like newer subways in other cities in South East Asian Countries, but they are very much functional in design.

A typical pathway to the subway at Fushimi Station.

Map of Nagoya Subway System consisting of 6 lines.

I decided to head out to a place which is a no man’s land as far as Nagoya is concerned. Its called Fujigaoka on the yellow line.Reason: To experience a Maglev Train in operation. While taking the Subway ticket , I saw an option to buy a Day pass(tourist ticket) at 600 Yen. As my plan to take multiple lines through the day, this Day pass was of immense help to me.

My weekend ticket to do unlimited ride on the Nagoya Subway till midnight.

For first timers like me, there is a lot of pre-work in terms of understanding the place as 99% population hardly understands English. To complicate matters, each railway is private and doesnt show maps of other railways.So last week, we took a standalone Aonami line which operates only that section. Meitetsu Commuter trains run far and wide and mainly at grade running deep into suburbs and to the Airport.Then we have another private player called Kinetsu which operates 1-2 lines from Nagoya, but is supposed to be the one with biggest network in entire Japan. JR handles the Shinkansens. Nozomi,Hikari and Kodama (all long distance trains with varied speeds and cost) . Nozomi Shinkansen being the fastest.And finally the Linimo line which operates in this no man’s land . But the speciality is use of Maglev for this short train running less than 10 stations.If you put all these lines on one single map, I believe we cant read anything. Its that dense.

 Yellow line to Fujigaoka.

I start from Fushimi which is on the Yellow line(Higashiyama line) at H09 and head to Fujigaoka(H22).As you can see from the map, its at the eastern tip of the subway section. These trains are 6 coach long and work on 3rd rail principle.Only towards the fag end of the journey do we go elevated. Otherwise it runs underground. After reaching Fujigaoka, I walk out of the Subway terminal into the underground Linimo Line terminal in the adjacent building.This line was built for the World Expo 2005 as a showcase train due to Maglev technology. The train is 3 coacher and we need to pay separately for this short stretch as its a different company. A steep 740 Yen for return ticket.

A Linimo Line ticket to Yakusa.

These stations are more swankier and newer than the Nagoya Subway.

Linimo Mixed Seating Style.

Seating is differently laid out in the Maglev and no points for guessing. Its a driverless ride. So I take the vantage seats.

Only Fujigaoka on Linimo line is Underground after which we start to climb.As you can see there are no rails just pathways here.

Guided path is below these pathways and train is perched on these pathways like a Monorail to some extent.That will give you a side view of those rails beneath with power lines

Leaving the second station.An all glass structure which defines all the stations on this line. Minimalistic but very swanky in design.

Ascends and Descends are quite sharp and so are the curves.To be very frank, this ride is slightly more jerkier than subway trains and you cannot realise when it actually levitates.I had very similar impressions of a Monorail ride in Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur. I does reach speeds above 70-80.

You can spot the train on another track as we depart from yet another elevated station.

One of the many Toyota Museums in Nagoya Industrial Hub.

Its a delight to be at the last coach looking out.

Track changer guideways.

Site of the 2005 World Expo, which is now used for various recreational activities and exhibitions.

After reaching the last station, Yakusa, I just ventured out and found another line called the Aichi Loop Line. I can safely say, in Japan you are never away from the railway lines.

I returned back to the Higashima Line or the Yellow Line at Fujigaoka. They are piloted but I somehow managed this picture when the motorman got off.These look like 1435 mm gauge with 3rd rail traction.This is the view from the drivers cab looking at the dead end ahead. The railfan keeda within me wanted to put the weekend pass to its best use.I decided to milk it the way only we (Indian Railfans) can do.

Seats are nice and cushioned like the above.

Lets relook at the subway map. I was moving from H22 (Fujigaoka) to H16(Motoyama), to reach the circle line or the Meijo Line(Purple Line), to make it easier for me to hop onto the other lines.

Trains on this line travel in Clockwise and CounterClockwise on the 2 tracks of this subway. Thus connecting all the other Subway lines at multiple points making life easier.I am headed to Yagoto to cover another section of subway lines.

Now trains on the Meijo line use Overhead wires and not third rail

This line is packed as its a feeder or connector to many other sections of subway.I get off at Yagoto to explore the Blue line (Tsurumai line ) to Akaike(T20). What I got back was bonus.

The entire platform was built on stilts. An old world charm was so evident on this stretch.

The line actually went ahead of Akaike and further ahead was called the Meitetsu Toyota Line. So here was a case of Nagoya Subway trains which used over head wires taking the Meitetsu owned lines.

Then comes the train to take me back to Yagota on the Purple line.

Seats on the Blue Subway line with Heaters at the base.

From Yagoto on the Meijo purple line, I make another small hop to Aratama -bashi (M23/S14) to capture the red line or the Sakura-dori line to Tokushige(S21).

 Red line is again using overhead traction.

Seats on the Red line.

I return back to Aratama-bashi and head back on Purple Meijo line to get onto the Meiko(Tangent to the central purple  Meijo).So this dash is to Kanayama(M01) or E01.Interiors of a station with 3rd rail is shown below.This Meiko line is fully Underground and runs to the Nagoya Port or Nagoyaka.

I returned back having completed the ride in all 5 subway lines except a line which runs between 2 stations in the north called the Pink line. It was 8:45 pm and I had not eaten anything yet since morning.Even though comfortable, the heavy laptop, adapter, selfie sticks and other office stuff in my bag was weighing me down. I continued on the Meijo purple line to Sakae interchange(M05).Finally,  hopped onto Yellow line to reach Nagoya(H08).

Ran to a Family Mart to collect some eatables and trudged back to my apartment which is a stone's throw from the Nagoya Station. It was 13 degrees and after soaking in a warm bath I was extremely satisfied happy to have covered the subways of Nagoya.