Next Generation High-Speed Japanese Train Is Going Green

High-speed trains have always been admired for their comfort, noise reduction, ride quality and of course, their speed. But the next generation of Japanese high-speed trains is not only designed to provide all that, it was also built to consume less energy, and thereby be more environmentally-friendly.

The new train is called N700 and it's a further evolution of the Series 700, to create the fastest high-tech train for the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen. It wasn't designed to beat France's TGV in speed, as it travels no faster than current bullet trains, reaching a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour).

Its manufacturers, private companies Central Japan Railway and West Japan Railway, put their money on increasing the environmental performance, so the new train will use 19 percent less electricity than earlier models.

"The substantial reduction in power consumption and CO2 emissions," a statement said, "contributes significantly to the effort to counter global warming."

However, this doesn't mean the makers have sacrificed ride comfort for the green cause. The train has a first-class section approaching the comfort level of business class on an airplane, with large chairs that can recline back 120 degrees, adjustable foot-rests and 15-centimeter (six-inch) wide arm-rests.

One modification is the fact that it won't have the current smoking sections found in Japanese trains, instead some of the cars will have built-in sealed, ventilated rooms for smoking passengers.

The most recent applications are featured on this new train, like a body tilting system, a train control and communication network, a new-type of hood that entirely wraps around the space between cars, a nose shape with superior aerodynamic performance, and a high-performance semi-active suspension.

The price tag of this environmentally friendly high-speed train will be pretty high, at 260 billion yen (2.1 billion dollars for development and construction, but the Japanese are proving that saving nature is more important than saving a few bucks.