The shinkansen — Japan ’s bullet geartrain that bring high - speed rail to the earthly concern in 1963 — is as symbolic for the nation as sushi and cerise blossoms . Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to export it across the world . And so far , he seems to be doing just that .

Although gamy - speed track has prosper in countries like Japan , China , Germany , and France for decade , the transportation founding is gain more earth recently . Both developing nations and sophisticated economy like the US are now aggressively pursuing the applied science . Japan ’s pushing hard to be the number - one high - swiftness rail provider .

Earlier this yr , we reported on how JR Central , the companionship behind Japan ’s shinkansen , is working with individual companionship in Texasto build a penny-pinching - exact shinkansen replica connect Dallas and Houston . Since then , more places across the world have started working with Japan to bring the bullet gear to their city , as well .

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India’sthe latest example . It chose Japan over China to get together on building a bullet train that ’ll join Mumbai and Ahmadabad for $ 15 billion , expected to cut change of location time between those two cities from eight hours to two . This past May , it was reveal that the shinkansen is being exported to Thailand , as well . Next up , on the heels of the Native American triumph , Japan ’s push to buildyet another shinkansenin a two - land deal that ’ll join Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia and Singapore .

Japan ’s not stopping at plain ol’ high-pitched - speed trains , either . Afterbreaking a gearing speed record earlier this yearwith its new , even faster maglev train , Prime Minister Abe has revealed he wants to help America work up its own maglevjoining Baltimore and Washington , DC , even offering to cover half of the $ 10 billion price ticket . US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxxeven move to Japanin November to test - taunt the maglev himself .

Of course , Japan is n’t the only post in the cosmos that knows how to do gamey - amphetamine rail — and how to do it well . China ’s been go a magnetic levitation train in Shanghai since 2004 , and that ’s engineering science still look at a futuristic fantasy rip from Asimov in many voice of the world . And non - maglev gamey - speeding gear have been serve well Western Europe for age .

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What make shinkansen dissimilar ? In the over 50 years it ’s been running , there have been zero accident - related injuries or deaths for passengers . It also has phenomenalanti - seism engineering science , which is crucial in a Pacific Rim straddler like Japan . That ’s base that squawk up the sales pitch to other seismically participating location , like California , Chile , or Indonesia . ( California started twist on its own high - fastness track earlier this yr . )

One caveat : These countries that are inheriting shinkansen ( or any high - speeding rail system of rules ) must be properly trained on how to run it . The shinkansen is often celebrated worldwide for its median delay of a mere six second , but a lot of that has to do with the general gold stock degree of excellent for Japanese customer service .

Here in the US , in high spirits - hurrying rail rest more or less controversial : Some contend it ’s way too expensive , and that in spread - out countries like America , enthrone in this sort of infrastructure is impractical . We ’ll see how it shakes out .

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Image : AP Photo / Shizuo Kambayashi , File

This story originally run on December 24 , 2015 .

reach out to the author at[email   protect ] , orfollow him on Twitter .

Photo: Jae C. Hong

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