A mix of modern and traditional on board the Shinkansen

Christian Wolmar Transport writer & broadcaster

THE control centre of the Shinkansen, the world’s first high-speed railway, is surprisingly low-tech. On the wall, the display of the line is distinctly 20th century rather than 21st, with no colour and little detail. Even the computer screens look as if they are just one generation ahead of Amstrad. The controllers, all male with one exception, are standing about and poring over screens as in any other control centre. But there are surprisingly a lot of them, and one is busily photocopying vast amounts of documents -something of a rarity in the UK nowadays, given the emphasis on paperless. But the way that the trains are being run from this small, crowded, windowless office does illustrate a fundamental aspect of the Shinkansen. It does not boast about being the…

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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1025

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