International Railroad Discussion > Shinkansen in the snow

I was watching a youtube video of Shinkansen\s in the snow.  I noticed that at many stations and locations there are sprinklers spraying water.  Seems to me water and cold temps just create ice.  I have never seen this done before and do not remember seeing it on any of my trips to japan.
This is the video I am referencing You tube search :Defeat snow!! Shinkansen 
 

Jeff Smith
Lakewood, CA
RailMaster Hobbies

My son lives in Tsunan, which is near the Japanese Alps. They get a huge amount of snow. Much of it is heavy, wet snow, not light, dry powder.

During snowstorms, they frequently run water from the drainage streams over the roads. They'll do this if the temps are near freezing, not well below it. The water melts the snow, and the run-off returns to the drainage streams. I was quite startled the first time I saw it in action. It works. If the temps get much colder than that, they turn it off.

So I guess the video is a rail version of what I saw.

This was first done on the Joetsu Shinkansen (which I've experienced firsthand), and also on the mountain grade section of the Tokaido Shinkansen, near Maibara, which would be east of Kyoto. Based on research I did just now, Tohoku Shinkansen also has a sprinkler system along the northern section near Aomori.

Sprinkler water is heated from local sources (nearby river, seepage from tunnels), at least for the original one installed on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line. The train slows down when the sprinkler system is active (schedule delays), but the point of having the system is to avoid cancellation of services.

The train sets and the attached equipment are generally protected from the elements, but the icicles that form from windchill effect from running at speed is what the sprinkler system is fighting against. Besides the potential damages to the train set itself, icicles may eventually fall and cause damages to the ROW.

Thanks for the info.  I thought - with no research - the sprinklers were to keep the rail cool in hot temps.  Is that also a use?
 

RRTom Wrote:
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> Thanks for the info.  I thought - with no
> research - the sprinklers were to keep the rail
> cool in hot temps.  Is that also a use?

Not that I'm aware of. Expansion joints are ubiquitous in Japan, especially on the Shinkansen system, so heat kinks are rare.