Bullet train gets its Wi-Fi on

Passengers on the famous Japanese Shinkansen “bullet trains” will be able to surf the Internet while traveling at 300kph thanks to a new service planned by the railway operator. But there’s going to be quite a wait until the first wireless LAN equipped trains arrive at the platform.

Central Japan Railway (JR Tokai), which operates the Shinkansen service between Tokyo and the western Japanese city of Osaka, said that it plans to offer wireless Internet service throughout all cars of its new N700-series trains from early 2009.

A general upgrade of the communications system for the trains will enable the service, which will be supplied to the train through a leaky coaxial cable that runs alongside the train tracks. A similar analog system is already in operation providing basic communications and a radio channel that is rebroadcast in the train but the new system will be digital and carry Internet traffic.

Few details of the Internet service have been worked out, except that it will be delivered to passengers through wireless LAN base stations located in each car of the train. A service provider has yet to be selected and no decision has been made on whether the service will be offered free or not, a JR Tokai spokesman said.

The communication system upgrade will bring other benefits. Also new will be an internal mobile phone service that allows the train’s driver and guard to speak to each other at any time and also allows for three-way calls with others, such as train company officials or station controllers, in the event of a problem or emergency.

Japanese Bullet Trains

A relatively small class and the most expensive of the bullet trains, few trains can match the dramatic appearance of the 500 Series. 500 Series trains are designed to be capable of 320 km/h (200mph) although they currently operate at a maximum of 300 km/h (186mph).

Bullet Trains Stealing Passengers Away from Airlines in Spain

High speed bullet trains are eclipsing airplanes as the preferred method of intercity travel in Spain. Traditionally, air travel was the way to traverse the long distances (typically 300 miles apart) between cities in the large country. Barcelona and Madrid are 410 miles apart, which previously helped create the busiest air travel route in the world. But in February of 2008 the new 220 mph train system linked up the two cities, and ridership has boomed. With a faster travel time, less delays and a lighter ecological footprint, more people are getting on board the train system.

Japanese bullet trains in 2009

Remember that Type N700 train that became Japan's fastest in mid-2007? Yeah, well it's about to get a lot more fun to ride. Starting next year, passengers on the ultra-quick bullet trains will be able to hit up their favorite blogs and banter about aimlessly via email / IM at 270 kilometers per hour (that's 167 miles per hour for you Yanks). The service will reportedly be an extension of NTT Communications' HotSpot service, and we're told that download speeds should reach around 2Mbps. As for cost, the fees will be at the usual HotSpot rate, which runs from ¥500 ($5.73) per day to ¥1,680 ($19.25) per month, or in other words, rates you'll totally pay to stay connected on the brisk runs from Osaka to Tokyo.