Build The Bullet

I know its old news, but I just heard of it.

JR West formally announced on August 13th that the Sanyo Shinkansen’s popular Hikari Rail Star will be discontinued after spring 2011; the trains will be transferred to the Kodama services. With the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen (Hakata – Kagoshima-Chuo) in spring 2011, a new series of 8-car trains based on the N700-series will run through-services between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chuo. The Hikari Rail Star, which provides duplicate service in the Sanyo region will be replaced with the new units, with the older trains becoming 8-car Kodama sets.

On the Sanyo-Tokaido Shinkansen, Nozomi services using the N700s (top speed 300 km/h) were increased in July last year. In the Sanyo area, business passengers are shifting to Nozomi services, rendering the Hikari Rail Star which aimed to carry business passngers as well, somewhat obsolete. With the new rolling stock for the interlined Kyushu-Sanyo Shinkansen, JR West is hoping to capture new passengers.

As for the Sanyo Shinkansen, beginning with the decommissioning of 0 Series Kodama trains and the transfer of 500 Series Nozomi trains to Kodama service, the fleet continues to be reshuffled.

The Hikari Rail Star, running with 8-car 700 Series consists, began service in March 2001. Today, with a fleet of 16 trains (12 cars), it runs 24 roundtrips between Shin-Osaka and Hakata and one roundtrip between Shin-Osaka and Hiroshima daily. With a top speed of 285 km/h identical to 700 Series Nozomi trains, it takes a minimum of 2 hours and 35 minutes to travel between Shin-Osaka and Hataka.

It has earned quite a following, with most reserved seats always full, thanks to passenger amenities such as its 2+2 reserved seating arrangement; “silent cars” which operate without in-train announcements; and “office seats” which feature PC power outlets, in addition to ticket surcharges that are cheaper than Nozomi services. However, ridership in the Sanyo area is stalling, and with the increase in Nozomi trains, the number of passengers using both the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen, such as for Nagoya – Okayama or Nagoya – Hiroshima trips, has increased, says JR West.

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/lifestyle/080814/sty0808140136000-n1.htm

Clicky for pictures

Somebody having fun with Photoshop

Good stuff here, it looks as if we here in the bay area might, in a few years have a real commuter rail line.
Click me <~~~ PDF warning

I just have to share this picture, cause its so cool. The picture has nothing to do with HSR or blogging. I am just a train geek and think this is cool.

Just cause we need somthing to look at.

It looks like the second oldest profthong is still alive and kicking.
State Sen. Alan Lowenthal from the LBC was trying to put language in a sate budget to pay out $139.2 million of the CAHSR’s project funding. BUT not allow any of the funds to be used for the high-speed rail hub in the Central Valley.

The game’s people play.
Read more about it here

While not much is out on the net about this, it is something worth noting.The Tunnel boom can really cause some nimby issues if not addressed in building this line though some of the more urban areas.
Check out about 3:06 into the video the hear the boom.

This video also shows some of the higher grades that HRS can deal with.

BNSF I think gets it on this front. They are at least talking about, with the push for ever better passenger service, system wide electrification. This is a good thing.
Railway Age Magazine has a little better write up on than me, so check it out!

I have never understood the need for creating a new system for this when there are a ton of options all ready out there like PiTaPa and Pasmo there are other but this is just an example

Is this what the train box will look like?

Over at the Caltrain HSR Compatibility blog they bring up a good point. Who in there right mind would design a train box like the one that is going in at the Trans Bay Terminal? My question is though, while It make be hard politically, how hard would it be to elevate the track into the TBT and how much money would be saved that way?

I have never understood the reluctance to build a elevated rail in the USA, it can be done well , just check out BART in the east bay. It is a sad day when the cheaper better alternative gets ruled out because it doesn’t look pretty to some.