On July 22nd on the Tokaido Shinkansen, services were suspended between Hamamatsu and Nagoya stations due to a derailment involving two maintenance trains. As my “luck” would have it, I got caught up in the chaos on my way back to Hiroshima from Tokyo and I went from being frustrated to almost passing out on a local train between Hamamatsu and Nagoya to spending the night on a parked Bullet Train in Osaka.
I love the Shinkansen. All the posts I make about it over the years doesn’t hide this fact. However, my experience due to this delay really made me realise that the Shinkansen especially the Tokaido line is the spine of the transportation system in Japan and a modern engineering/technology marvel. This disruption has huge implications, and it’s a wonder how a complex system like this that runs 365 days a year for decades doesn’t have more frequent disruptions.
I love the comfort and speed of the Shinkansen despite its cost. Now that I have suffered, I can now be insufferable to my fellow densha otaku as I boast that “I” got to spend the night on a N700 model Tokaido Shinkansen on July 22nd 2024.
What a drama! I hope you have recovered well.
I have always been amused by the Shinkansen and the frequency and efficiency with which they run. Truly impressive. So sorry you had to overnight on one after such a rough day but at least you have a cool story because not many people can say they spent the night on one, lol.