700 Series Shinkansen

The 700 Series Shinkansen trainsets for Japan's Shinkansen dedicated high-speed rail lines were built between 1997 and 2003, entering service in 1999. The design goal was to produce a train almost as fast as the 500 Series Shinkansen but at a substantially lower cost. This goal was met, and 67 trains have been built and are in service. Top speed is 285 km/h (177 mph); given that speeds higher than that are only permitted on a few stretches of line, the journey time is actually little longer than for a 500 series.

Unlike the 500 series the 700 series is not a thing of beauty, with a fat, bulbous 'duck-bill' nose. They are painted white with a blue band beneath the windows, and are used on almost all levels of service on the Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen lines.