International Railroad Discussion > Japan Times article on history of Japanese RR

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/10/10/national/history/japan-railways-150-anniversary/

I don't know if you'll hit a paywall or not.

symph1 Wrote:
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> I don't know if you'll hit a paywall or not.

Ad blockers won't allow readers to see the entire article, so I used a browser with it disabled. Thanks for the link, enjoyed it.

Some of the photos in the article by Wally Higgins are excellent. The crowd of people seems to be surrounding a Shinkansen Class 1000 (6th photo), one of the prototypes used for testing while the construction was going on. The subtitle doesn't have the location or date, but it could be for the record 256 km/h (~160 mph) run on March 30, 1963.

I was able to obtain "the rest of the story" from one of the "Project X" documentaries from NHK, where they interviewed the technical leads working under JNR President Shinji Sogo, "...who resigned with Shima in 1963 as the project went over budget..."  which only scratches the surface. Sogo and his lieutenants knew well in advance they were going over-budget, and planned in advance to make sure the project finished. THAT is why they resigned, since some of his planning was premeditated to prevent opponents from cancelling the project.

That means digging the longest tunnel of the first segment FIRST was imperative.
 

The RR museum in Saitama had a nice exhibit on starting the Shinkansen.