Shinkansen vs TGV - Is One Better Than the Other?

The Japanese shinkansen or bullet train and the TGV from France are the original high-speed rail trains and although they provide a similar service they are quite distinct in their own right and yet they have a common starting point but is possible to say if one better than the other.

Presented by
Paul Shillito

Written & Researched
By Paul Shillito

Images and footage : NHK, Alstom, SNCF, EZ30tRutH6, Greg Peterson, JR Tokai,
ula

Music from the Youtube library
The Void by White Hex
Dream Boat by Coyote Hearing
Connection by Wayne Jones
Jay Sweeps by Geographer
Strange Stuff by Matt Harris
Subterranean Howl by ELPHNT
Bubble Walk bu Aaron Lieberman
Stuck in the air by The Tower of Light

[yuukih]

I am Japanese.
I'm very honored to be compared in this way to the TGV, the French bullet train.
Cheers to the technology in both countries!

[uglyduckling]

You forgot to mention Australia's high speed trains. Huge flat country.
Melbourne to Sydney is around 720km, each city approx 5m people.
Our trains make this journey in only 11hrs.
An extraordinary average speed of 65km/hr.
Plus is only costs about 1.5x more than the 1hr flight.
Unforgivable oversight really.

[attackhelicopter]

Meanwhile in Romania there's a news article that says: ''Last year the total delay time of trains summed up to 8 years''

[noy]

as a french person i can say for a fact france and japan always have admired each other, and i can tell u thats still the case nowadays, the tgv and the shinkansen are both amazing trains and to be honest i couldnt tell which one is better!
Cheers from france and hi to all the japanese ppl ^^

[microdubber]

Shinkansen has a perfect safety record since the early 1960s. This is a source of great pride for the Japanese.

[HolyPastrami]

France: Builds automated trains that go at 300+ km/h on regular duty
Japan: Building Maglev trains that'll go 500+ km/h and be in regular service by 2027
Germany: Changes definition of delay to increase punctuality rates

[CuriousDroid]

Apologies for the re-upload, this was due to an error which I hadn't noticed until after it was live.

[dmchld]

The French really know how to build a train. But man... The Japanese ones look like spaceships.

[BobSaysWhat]

I am Japanese and what I love about Shinkansen is the whole experience. Going to station, get regional Bento lunch box and sweets etc and get on the train and enjoy the view in comfort. Caught some trains in Europe as well but it felt it’s just a way to get point A to point B.
Sure, there are faster trains than Shinkansen but I don’t think Shinkansen needs to compete with others with speed because it already exists as Shinkansen experience package.

[Obiterarbiter]

The Japanese shinkansen is in a league of its own. It's impeccable timetable, aesthetic and courtesy of staff make it the best HSR network in the world.

[danielarias]

Why compare ?
The reason why in France we choose the TGV is we want a train that can use classic rails and not only TGV rails.
So the TGV can go in high speed on TGV rails, but also slower on classic existing rail network.
The context of the technolgy choice its important.
France had a huge train network before TGV.

[kevinkim]

Having experienced both, I'm going to say the shinkansen beats out the TGV. We don't even need to discuss the technological systems of either trains. Just the Japanese standard of service and punctuality alone is unmatched.

[NiPaVou]

Thanks for using the metric system. Makes things so much easier to understand

[nbarrett]

The actual experience of being a passenger on the Shinkansen is incredible. In terms of comfort, space, frequency and efficiency it's a million miles ahead of everything

[RFGfotografie]

I've been on the TGV once. And it's so freaking stable/comfy. I could even photograph the sunset in northern France while it was going 300 kph (if not faster) without any effort at all.

[fosterfuchs]

The Shinkansen isn't just amazing with regards to the train technology. It's also the frequency of service. These trains run every 15-20 minutes. It's like a municipal commuter train network, except long distance at a high rate of speed.

[DJAYPAZ]

For those of us who ridden the "Shinkansen" it reaaly is in a class of it's own. I rode the Nozomi Super Express from Tokyo to Hiroshima and back again. 300+ Km/hr makes the journey relatively quick and very comfortable. I note that the train accelerated up to cruising speed quite quickly.

[RedSnake]

The reason why Shinkansen is the best HSR in the world is because of the amount they invest in the system since there is so much demand for it. I travel for business between Tokyo and Osaka at least once a month, and in a train based society like Japan, riding the HSR is more convenient than flying in my opinion.

[uss_]

I’d got for the Shinkansen just for the scenery. The TGV is fine but travels over a lot of flat farmland.
Japan has those mountains and rolling hills when you break out of the urban centers, and once you get near Hakone, Mt. Fuji makes a great backdrop.

Plus the engineering challenge for building in densely populated, mountainous, natural disaster prone geography is interesting in its own right.

[rollingwithjoe]

I’m an engineer at Eurostar, and I can tell you that the french TMST is an amazing train. Considering it’s age (although been refurbished) is still going strong! It’s really weird working on such old technology then working on the new train, being the E320 Velaro.