The Thunderbird Express No 7 bound for Hiroshima snaked into the station and four minutes later, all safely aboard, left exactly on time and the one –hour-eight minute ride was every bit as exciting as I imagined it would be and for me another of my dreams fulfilled. You sit back in a comfortable airline style seat but with twice the legroom a feel the sheer acceleration in your back as the train picks up speed to a maximum of 300kph (180mph) – I will need to check that is correct when I get home. It was an extremely smooth and comfortable ride with coffee from a beautifully attired young lady who did the usual 30-degree bow of respect as she handed over the coffee and the change and turned to bow to the whole carriage before moving on to the next.
We were of course running on dedicated tracks and so reliable is the acceleration and deceleration of these streamline bullet trains that one runs every 8 minutes or so, at peak times, on this line from Tokyo to Hakata, on the extreme southern tip of Japan, in either direction.
I really must research more about these splendid trains when I get home.
Japan is very mountainous – 64% of the land area is mountains – I suppose this is not too surprising given that the country sits over one of the major fault lines and so is prone to major earthquakes. A population of about 160m (?) are crammed into the narrow southern coastal strip so views of open countryside were rare – see photo – whereas built up townscapes were frequent as are the tunnels so getting these two photos proved quite a challenge.
10.57am and we were stopped with the doors open ready for disembarkation with only 4 minutes to empty the carriage of 60 not so nimble cruise passengers and allow locals to board before the doors were closed and Nozomo No 7 sped on its way to its final destination of Hakata. Wow what an experience!
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