Test runs start on 320 kph bullet train

East Japan Railway Co. started testing a bullet train capable of reaching 320 kph, the fastest ever.

Wins by a nose: The new E5-type bullet train, sporting an elongated nose to reduce air resistance, arrives at JR Sendai Station late Monday after a test run. KYODO PHOTO

JR East held test runs from late Monday to early Tuesday starting at Sendai Station.

The new train will be able to link Tokyo and Shin-Aomori stations in three hours and five minutes starting at the end of fiscal 2012. The run currently takes three hours and 59 minutes from Aomori to Tokyo stations via conventional and bullet trains.

The new E5-type train features an elongated nose to reduce air resistance.

JR East wants to have 59 10-car E5 trains running by the end of fiscal 2015, a spokesman for the carrier said in Tokyo.

The E5 will first start operating between Shin-Aomori and Hachinohe stations, both in Aomori Prefecture, in December 2010.