The secrets of the Shinkansen • Hacker News Board

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#91

Post by servo_sausage » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 11:38 AM UTC

Gravityloss wrote: post #83

Tor3 wrote: post #70

"The Japanese love cars, but they take trains because they have the best railway system in the world" That's exactly it. It's not because of some cultural bias or whatever. I'm in Japan. I use trains because it's so very easy and it's so very reliable. It's simply the best option for travelling. If I wish to go to Tokyo? I check a website quickly, I look up the best connection for my schedule (easy to find), I may pa…

Maybe some trains could be more redneck coded somehow? Steam trains with sweaty stokers and buffalo shooting from the windows of course had plenty of that, but how to bring something from that aesthetic to the present? Bar carriage with sports screens still sounds still a bit passive and cliche. Maybe a gym car? There are already kid and pet cars after all at least here. In German trains you get a real glass pint for…

I suspect that culturally for Americans to embrace trains, you probably need segregation; a free class and a ticketed class with a bouncer.

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#92

Post by gherkinnn » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 11:41 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #13

Japan's railroad system has a big geographic advantage - the country is long and narrow. The railroad system is primarily a long end to end line with short crosswise branches.[1] That's an efficient structure. The branch lines don't have to be fast. Many are still narrow gauge, at 3 ft 6 in. The US had to fill a huge area in the railroad era. That left a lot of underutilized track once the road network got good. [1]…

Oh this again.

Then explain international train travel in Europe or China's national train network. Both fill large areas.

Conversely, the UK is long and narrow, and unlike Japan has neither earthquakes nor is it particularly mountainous and yet its train system is rubbish.

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#93

Post by angled » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 11:45 AM UTC

Tor3 wrote: post #70

"The Japanese love cars, but they take trains because they have the best railway system in the world" That's exactly it. It's not because of some cultural bias or whatever. I'm in Japan. I use trains because it's so very easy and it's so very reliable. It's simply the best option for travelling. If I wish to go to Tokyo? I check a website quickly, I look up the best connection for my schedule (easy to find), I may pa…

Ah! But is your bicycle registered and do you have insurance.

(I agree with the trains. I love the trains.)

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#94

Post by asutekku » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 11:48 AM UTC

barney54 wrote: post #86

What is seldom mentioned in these conversations is that the United States has a very good rail system—-for freight. That’s what the U.S. system did well, not passengers. From the article it isn’t obvious how Japan moves freight, but they obviously aren’t moving a lot of freight on the Shinkansen.

They actually started doing that very recently, converting old Shinkansen into a freight trains. Obviously you can't fit large cargo, but it's a good option for fast transport of parcels etc.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/03/24/companies/f...

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#95

Post by skrebbel » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 11:48 AM UTC

angled wrote: post #93

Tor3 wrote: post #70

"The Japanese love cars, but they take trains because they have the best railway system in the world" That's exactly it. It's not because of some cultural bias or whatever. I'm in Japan. I use trains because it's so very easy and it's so very reliable. It's simply the best option for travelling. If I wish to go to Tokyo? I check a website quickly, I look up the best connection for my schedule (easy to find), I may pa…

Ah! But is your bicycle registered and do you have insurance. (I agree with the trains. I love the trains.)

People insure bikes?

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#96

Post by asutekku » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 11:52 AM UTC

pm215 wrote: post #53

sparkie wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you intend to do a fair amount of travelling and your stay is Probably not worth it if you're only visiting one city as the pass is quite expensive. There are regional tourist passes though. [1]: https://japanrailpass.net/en/

Unfortunately the 70% price rise on the JR pass back in 2023 made it much less likely to be economic for most people compared to just buying tickets as you go, even for trips that visit more than one city. Last time I was there I did a loop up from Tokyo to Hokkaido and back by rail, and it was still cheaper to buy individual tickets. (There are obviously still some itineraries where it works out cheaper, but it's mu…

Having followed some tourists coming to Japan, a large amount of the people appreciate convenience, and the rail pass gives them that. The price is secondary.

Hell, there are even people paying the equivalent of 100 USD just to have someone pick them up from the Haneda airport and accompany them to the hotel. Not even a taxi service, just to be with them to buy them the train tickets, etc.

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#97

Post by andreareina » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 12:03 PM UTC

angled wrote: post #93

Tor3 wrote: post #70

"The Japanese love cars, but they take trains because they have the best railway system in the world" That's exactly it. It's not because of some cultural bias or whatever. I'm in Japan. I use trains because it's so very easy and it's so very reliable. It's simply the best option for travelling. If I wish to go to Tokyo? I check a website quickly, I look up the best connection for my schedule (easy to find), I may pa…

Ah! But is your bicycle registered and do you have insurance. (I agree with the trains. I love the trains.)

Registered, very likely—it's required and IIRC done at time of purchase.

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#98

Post by Philpax » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 12:03 PM UTC

jabl wrote: post #59

Conan_Kudo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China also has nationalized rail systems. The major reason for the failure in the US is that the rail lines are not publicly owned. The reason the rail systems never got upgraded and Amtrak couldn't deploy high speed rail everywhere (despite it being a national priority in the 70s, 80s, and 90s) is that outside of the northeast corridor, Amtrak doesn't own the lines and couldn't get the owners to allow Amtrak to upgr…

> China also has nationalized rail systems. The major reason for the failure in the US is that the rail lines are not publicly owned. The article we're discussing explains that Japan has the best passenger rail system in the world, and which happens to be privatized, along with privately owned track. So which one is it? Go figure.

While I agree with you, their system did not start privatised, and the Shinkansens predate privatisation by some time. I don't have the evidence to justify this, but I suspect that you need national buy-in - both financially and politically - to start a HSR build-out, which could then potentially be privatised at a later stage.

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#99

Post by andreareina » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 12:04 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #95

angled wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah! But is your bicycle registered and do you have insurance. (I agree with the trains. I love the trains.)

People insure bikes?

They are easy to steal and can cost multiple thousands of dollars.

Re: The secrets of the Shinkansen

#100

Post by throw0101d » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 12:06 PM UTC

Tor3 wrote: post #70

"The Japanese love cars, but they take trains because they have the best railway system in the world" That's exactly it. It's not because of some cultural bias or whatever. I'm in Japan. I use trains because it's so very easy and it's so very reliable. It's simply the best option for travelling. If I wish to go to Tokyo? I check a website quickly, I look up the best connection for my schedule (easy to find), I may pa…

>> "The Japanese love cars, but they take trains because they have the best railway system in the world"

> That's exactly it. It's not because of some cultural bias or whatever.

Are there not a lot of toll roads in Japan as well?

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_Japan#Tolls

Also, is not the population density fairly high? There's not as much land to spread in low-density car centric suburbs like there is in (say) the US.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan#Populati...

IMHO cultural bias (and practicality, geographic and economic (low car ownership post-WW2)) is there in Japan, which led to a particular development model, which lends itself to non-car-centric infrastructure.

Contrast: Okinawa, where the US (cultural?) influence is higher and that has highways everywhere and where public transit is apparently not that good.