- Tōhoku Shinkansen
Infobox rail line
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name = Tōhoku Shinkansen
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caption = Tōhoku Shinkansen bilevel E4 series train
type =Shinkansen
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locale =Japan
start = Tokyo
end = Hachinohe
stations = 21
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open =23 June 1982
close =
owner =JR East
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depot = Tokyo, Sendai, Morioka
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linelength = 593.1 km
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gauge = 1,435 mm
el = 25 kV AC, overhead catenary
speed = 275 km/h
elevation =
map_state = showTōhoku Shinkansen (東北新幹線) is a high-speed rail line, connecting
Tokyo withHachinohe inAomori Prefecture for a total length of 593 km, Japan's longest Shinkansen line. It runs through the more sparsely populatedTōhoku region of Japan's main islandHonshū . It has two spur lines,Yamagata Shinkansen andAkita Shinkansen , not shown on the map. The line is operated byEast Japan Railway Company .Timeline
*
November 28 ,1971 : Construction starts on line.
*June 23 ,1982 : Ōmiya-Morioka section opens.
*March 14 ,1985 : Ueno-Ōmiya section opens.
*June 20 ,1991 : Tokyo-Ueno section opens.
* October 1998: 1 billionth passenger carried on Tōhoku, Jōetsu and Nagano Shinkansen lines.
*December 1 ,2002 : Morioka-Hachinohe section opens.An extension from Hachinohe to Aomori is under construction and is scheduled for completion around 2010. From Aomori, construction is underway to continue the line under the name
Hokkaidō Shinkansen , passing through the world's longest railway tunnel, theSeikan Tunnel to Shin-Hakodate onHokkaidō , and eventually all the way toSapporo .The mountainous terrain that the line passes through has necessitated heavy reliance on tunnels. The
Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel on the Morioka-Hachinohe stretch, completed in 2000, was briefly the longest land rail tunnel at 25.8 km, but in 2005 it was superseded by theHakkōda Tunnel on the extension to Aomori, at 26.5 km. TheLötschberg Base Tunnel inSwitzerland has now superseded both.ervices
There are currently three services in operation:
* "Hayate", Tokyo-Hachinohe express, starting December 2002
* "Yamabiko", Tokyo-Sendai express, then local to Morioka, starting June 1982
* "Nasuno", Tokyo-Kōriyama local, starting 1995One service has been discontinued:
* "Aoba", Tokyo - Sendai local, June 1982 - October 1997 (consolidated with Nasuno)Through trains on the
Akita Shinkansen andYamagata Shinkansen lines also run on Tōhoku Shinkansen tracks from Morioka and Fukushima respectively.List of stations
Planned extension
External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4302291.stm Japan blasts longest land tunnel]
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