Visitors from Japan were welcomed to the National Railway Museum in York to cement a new exciting partnership between rail experts in the UK and Japan.
Delegates from the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya, Japan, visited the National Railway Museum in York on Wednesday 20 May to sign a sister-partnership to formalise a mutually beneficial collaboration between the two nationally recognised railway institutions.
The ceremony took place on the 125th anniversary of the birth of Hideo Shima, inventor of the Japanese bullet train, alongside the popular 1976 0 series Shinkansen displayed in the museum, which is the only preserved bullet train outside of Japan.
Craig Bentley, director of the National Railway Museum, said: “You cannot write the story of rail without the UK and Japan. The UK, as the birthplace of the modern railway, helped shape the foundations of rail travel across the world, and those early advances were instrumental in Japan’s own journey to becoming a global leader in rail innovation. This exciting partnership celebrates not only how far we have come, but how much further we can go—learning from one another, inspiring one another, and continuing to build connections that will shape the future of rail.”
The SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya, Japan (run by the Central Japan Railway Company, or JR Central) is partly named for the revolutionary Superconducting Magnetically Levitated Vehicle technology (SCMaglev). This is a magnetic levitation railway system that uses electrodynamic suspension. Developed by JR Central, this technology allows trains to travel at speeds exceeding 311mph, making it one of the fastest rail systems in the world.
The L0 series, a prototype SCMaglev vehicle, currently stands as the fastest train in the world, having reached recorded speeds of 375mph. Japan is currently developing the Chūō Shinkansen, a line which the L0 series will operate on, which will allow passengers to commute from the capital city Tokyo to Osaka in 67 minutes, the equivalent of being able to travel from London to Edinburgh in just 1 hour 7 minutes (a journey that currently takes on average 5 hours 23 minutes).
Hitoshi Okabe, director of the SMAGLEV and Railway Park, said: “This partnership honours a relationship of over 30 years of trust and collaboration between JR Central and the National Railway Museum. Through this partnership, the two museums will engage in exchange as sister institutions, with the aim of passing on the value of railway technology and culture to future generations and sharing it with the world.”
Entry to the National Railway Museum in York is free and can be booked at www.railwaymuseum.org.uk.
Image credit: Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
