Do bullet trains need drivers?

We need a driver to communicate with the command center and to respond to emergencies, a JR Central official said. Meanwhile, JR East is aiming to introduce Grade 3 automation on the Joetsu Shinkansen, which will allow operation by train attendants who need not be qualified as drivers.



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Driverless automation is primarily used on automated guideway transit systems where it is easier to ensure the safety due to isolated track lines. Fully automated trains for mainline railways are an area of research. First driverless experiments in the history of train automation are dating back to 1920s.

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Driverless trains have been in operation on the Docklands Light Railway since it opened in 1987, though a train attendant is present to operate the doors and drive the train if needed.

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Safety precaution. And convenience. You want someone in front who is able to swiftly make decisions on the possibility that the track control does something wrong. It seldom does, and if it does it's not certain that it's the train driver who is actually able to do something about it, that spots it in time.

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Tokyo, Japan (Urban Transport News): The East Japan Railway (JR East) is all set to introduce largely automated 'driverless' bullet trains in the mid-2030s under plans announced on 9th May 2023, a labor-saving measure that would be a first for the company.

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In the fiscal year 2022, Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) earned around 0.99 trillion Japanese yen of revenues from its high-speed railway Shinkansen, increasing from roughly 0.59 trillion in the preceding year.

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With high-speed rail, train travel is always faster than driving. In many cases, it's even faster than flying, once you factor in the whole air travel song-and-dance.

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For example, most of the companies that run Japan's Shinkansen or bullet train lines operate at a profit, as do some fast trains on France's state-owned SNCF network.

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On Britain's biggest rail franchise, GTR, all Thameslink and Great Northern trains are driver-only operation, including routes from Peterborough to Horsham (118 miles), Brighton to Bedford (103 miles) and London King's Cross to King's Lynn (99 miles).

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Deutsche Bahn (DB), in partnership with Siemens Mobility, has developed the world's first fully automated driverless train in Germany.

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A controversial issue all around the world, train drivers could see their roles change or possibly disappear altogether with many high-profile train manufacturers on the market already working on driverless prototypes that could soon be debuting on tracks.

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As of August 2022, the fastest train on Earth, based on its record speed, is the Japanese L0 Series Maglev with a record speed of 603 kilometers per hour.

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hsr delivers the safest transport High Speed Rail is the world's safest form of transportation proven by decades of operations all around the world. Japan was the first nation to build high speed rail in 1964, and has since transported 10 billion passengers without a single injury or fatality!

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All shinkansen are equipped with multiple toilets, which are sometimes separated by gender. The toilets are Western-style except on some older train sets.

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Types of bullet trains On each of the Shinkansen lines there are fast trains, semi-fast trains, and local trains: The fast trains only stop at the main stations. Semi-fast trains make a few more stops. Local trains stop at every station.

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Automatic train stop or ATS is a system on a train that automatically stops a train if certain situations occur (unresponsive train operator, earthquake, disconnected rail, train running over a stop signal, etc.) to prevent accidents. In some scenarios it functions as a type of dead man's switch.

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