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Japan's famous bullet train turns 60 years old this month. On a recent visit, NPR's Adam Bearne took a ride from Tokyo with one eye on Texas, where Amtrak has tried to bring the technology.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Thank you for waiting. Please watch your step.
ADAM BEARNE, BYLINE: Japan is often described as the country of the future - part of that, sleek trains with pointed noses that hit speeds close to 200 miles an hour. But the technology, known as the Shinkansen, is 60 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Nozomi 3707 is arriving at platform 14.
BEARNE: Here's Naoyuki Ueno, a manager with the Central Japan Railway Company.
NAOYUKI UENO: We have a lot of cars on the highway, so it's took around 10 hours from Tokyo to Osaka. But if you use the Shinkansen train, just it's takes, you know, two hour and 21 minutes.
BEARNE: It goes so fast because the Shinkansen doesn't have to share a track with slower trains. America's fastest train - Amtrak's Acela - does, and tops out at less than 150 miles an hour. The Shinkansen's dedicated tracks are often elevated above the ground, keeping animals away and eliminating the need for level crossings. It has an incredible safety record.
UENO: No casualty at all. Zero.
BEARNE: No casualties. Zero.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: We will soon make a brief stop at Nagoya.
BEARNE: On board, the ride is peaceful, even as the landscape whips by the windows. After arriving in Kyoto, Leighanne and Roy Neese - tourists from Fort Worth, Texas - were impressed.
LEIGHANNE NEESE: It was wonderful. It's very comfortable. It went fast. It was smooth.
ROY NEESE: What really impressed me was how fast it got up to speed, and you didn't really notice it. I liked it better than flying.
BEARNE: It's an experience that could be coming to their home state. After years of stagnation, Amtrak received a $64 million federal grant last month to continue the planning of a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston. The company's head of high-speed rail, Andy Byford, told a conference in Texas this year not building it would be a huge missed opportunity to transform what's now an over three-hour drive.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ANDY BYFORD: You would be foregoing the opportunity to get from Dallas to Houston in 90 minutes. You would be foregoing the opportunity to take 12,500 cars a day off the I-45. You would be foregoing the opportunity to have something which I think would kick-start a rail revolution in the U.S.
BEARNE: Of course, like any big infrastructure project, it faces opposition. Trey Duhon with Texans Against High-Speed Rail has a long list of complaints. They include that the project's now being partially funded by taxpayer dollars via that federal grant.
TREY DUHON: This is quite possibly the biggest bait-and-switch that's ever been put on taxpayers.
BEARNE: If Amtrak moves ahead, it will likely cost taxpayers even more, and Duhon isn't reassured by the fact that the Shinkansen is tried and tested. Amtrak says the new line could open in the 2030s - when the tech turns 70.
DUHON: Technology in transportation is moving so fast, this could be obsolete before it even gets built.
BEARNE: Meanwhile, Japan is already building its next generation of high-speed trains. They use magnetic levitation to reach speeds over 300 miles an hour. Adam Bearne, NPR News, on the rails between Tokyo and Kyoto.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONSIEUR MINIMAL'S "LOLLIPOP") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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