Japan launches fastest-ever bullet train

A brand new 186 mph luxury bullet train has just made its debut in Japan.

The distinctive-looking ultra-fast train Hayabusa train comes complete with a top-notch luxury carriage modelled on business class air travel seats.

It will make two day trips a day on the Shinkansen Line between Tokyo and Aomori, a rural backwater on the northern tip of Honsuhu island.

The bullet train will also make one trip a day to Sendai, between Tokyo and Aomori.

The Tokyo-Aomori journey

takes three hours and ten minutes – which is ten minutes shorter than the previous bullet train. By 2013, the Japan Rail East company claims that this journey will be cut by another five minutes.

Passengers in the ample top class seats pay 26,360 Yen (around £197). They have reclining seats, foot rests and are served drinks and light refreshments. Green Car seats cost 21,360 Yen (around £160) while ordinary seats cost 16,870 Yen (£126).

Japan has already sold Shinkansen technology, which boasts impressive safety records, to Taiwan. It is now hoping to sell it to other markets including those Brazil and Vietnam.

A huge network of cutting-edge railway track has been built up across Japan since the 1960s, and the island nation now hopes to sell the technology abroad.

The country is also developing a magnetic levitation or maglev train, which is believed to have reach a world record speed of 363mph on a test track near Mount Fuji. The plan is to launch maglev services between Tokyo and Nagoya by 2027.

The train's debut journey was delayed by seven minutes when a passenger fell from the platform at Tokyo station, where more than 1,000 train spotters had gathered to take pictures. The man was unhurt.

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