Thursday, October 1, 1964: Bullet train

TOKYO -- Japan's new electric "Dream Train" rolled out of Tokyo station this morning on its 347-mile maiden trip to Osaka. The train has a top speed of 125 mph. Japanese rail officials planned the fast service to start in time for the Olympic games opening here Oct. 10. (United Press International)

-- Photo from Kyodo News Service. Caption: A superexpress Hikari train passes by (Tokyo's) Nichigeki Theatre in Yurakucho district on Dec. 21, 1964. Tokaido Shinkansen line was inaugurated on Oct. 1 just before Tokyo and Shin-Osaka in four hours and emerging as the world's first high-speed rail for mass transport.

* "Japan's Bullet Train, the World's First (and Still Best) High-Speed Rail Network, Turns 50" (Next City): @

* "Japan's Shinkansen: Revolutionary design at 50" (BBC): @

* "Fifty Years Ago and Today, Japan Blazes Trails with Trains": @

* "About the Shinkansen" (Central Japan Railway Company): @

* Episode of "Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections" (2011): @
* "High Speed Rail in Japan: A Review and Evaluation of the Shinkansen Train" (University of California Transportation Center, 1992): @ 

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