Japan's most popular train carries no paying passengers!

"Doctor Yellow" is a special train on the Tokaido line which is full of equipment to measure the tracks and overhead wires. It normally operates very late at night, so seeing it is considered very lucky. It made a surprise appearance at Kyoto and everyone was very excited! The train will be phased out because the new shinkansen have the measuring equipment built into the normal trains.

[reh321]

Japan's most popular train carries no paying passengers!

"Doctor Yellow" is a special train on the Tokaido line which is full of equipment to measure the tracks and overhead wires. It normally operates very late at night, so seeing it is considered very lucky. It made a surprise appearance at Kyoto and everyone was very excited! The train will be phased out because the new shinkansen have the measuring equipment built into the normal trains.

This is a good photo of the train and its adoring crowd. The U.S. has track inspection trains, but I've never seen them get much attention from by-standers.

[RobG]

This is a good photo of the train and its adoring crowd. The U.S. has track inspection trains, but I've never seen them get much attention from by-standers.

There was literally a rush of every person on the platform to take photos or selfies with Doctor Yellow. Trains are very popular in Japan, and I often see "train geeks" on the platforms taking photos.

[eaglem]

That was a good catch

[reh321]

There was literally a rush of every person on the platform to take photos or selfies with Doctor Yellow. Trains are very popular in Japan, and I often see "train geeks" on the platforms taking photos.

I'm glad they have that barrier between the tracks and the people. I've been present in stations in the NorthEast portion of the U.S. when a recorded voice announces "Please get away from the tracks". It turns out that an 'Accela' is coming through the station without stopping, and they have no way to keep people near the tracks from being sucked under by the vacuum created by the train.

[RobG]

That was a good catch

I was amazed!

I'm glad they have that barrier between the tracks and the people. I've been present in stations in the NorthEast portion of the U.S. when a recorded voice announces "Please get away from the tracks". It turns out that an 'Accela' is coming through the station without stopping, and they have no way to keep people near the tracks from being sucked under by the vacuum created by the train.

Many of the Shinkansen stations don't have barriers, but these days most of those where trains might pass through at speed, the barriers are in place. Most smaller stations have parallel sidings for the platforms and the main lines just go straight through. I have video of the trains passing through Mishima station at close to 300 kmh.

[reh321]

I was amazed!

Many of the Shinkansen stations don't have barriers, but these days most of those where trains might pass through at speed, the barriers are in place. Most smaller stations have parallel sidings for the platforms and the main lines just go straight through. I have video of the trains passing through Mishima station at close to 300 kmh.

I was raised in a suburb of Chicago, where they have three tracks. The north track is used by WB traffic and is accessed from the north platform. The south track is used by EB traffic is accessed from the south platform. Through traffic goes on the center track, isolated away from any platform.

[RobG]

I was raised in a suburb of Chicago, where they have three tracks. The north track is used by WB traffic and is accessed from the north platform. The south track is used by EB traffic is accessed from the south platform. Through traffic goes on the center track, isolated away from any platform.

Fair enough - although trains never ever travel in opposite directions on the same bullet train line!

[RobG]

This is a JR Kyushu N700 passing through Himeji station. In this case, the through traffic passes on the two centre tracks. Trains which stop at Himeji change to one of the outer tracks.

https://vimeo.com/robg/n700-himeji