When Japan’s authorities were considering in the 1950s how to expand their battered rail system, they faced an awkward problem. Their railways were nearly all narrow gauge, with tracks less than the worldwide standard 1,435mm apart. Any fast trains built for them would suffer the lifelong cost disadvantage of carrying fewer passengers than standard-gauge equivalents. The potential for high speed on narrow-gauge track was also limited.

The result was the momentous decision to construct a dedicated, separate, standard-gauge network for high-speed passenger trains, the world’s first. When the first line – from Tokyo to Osaka – opened in 1964, its 200km/h trains offered the world’s fastest passenger services. Maximum speeds have increased to 300kph and the network has spread across much of the Japanese archipelago.