Sneak peek at 'shinks'

I go through Tokyo station once or twice a month. It's a fearsomely big place and you wouldn't want to be lost there during the rush hour - actually there are JR platforms on five separate levels.

Often I have to change from the Sobu Line arriving from Chiba for the old Tokaido line to catch a train down to Kawasaki. The old Tokaido 'down' platform is just across from the platform for the shinkansen trains headed north to Tohoku so you can get a good look at the trains parked up there.

This is a very odd bit of railway. At Tokyo the shinkansen trains for the north and the west of Japan pull into platforms next to each other. They are the same (standard) gauge but there's no track connection between them because the electic supply is quite different.

Here is a train bound for the north. It is in two halves which will be uncoupled at Morioka. The front half will then head through the mountains west to Akita, and the rear half will head north towards Aomori with passengers for Hokkaido.

- Iain