Development of External-Noise Reduction Technologies for Shinkansen High-Speed Trains

JR-East has been working on a research and development project to increase Shinkansen operation speed to 360 km/h. Methods of wayside noise reduction arise as major issues when increasing the Shinkansen's operating speed, as it is necessary to keep wayside noise levels within those of existing Shinkansen trains, even at a speed of 360 km/h. Two high-speed test trains were developed: "FASTECH360S" (running only on Shinkansen lines) and "FASTECH360Z" (running on both Shinkansen and conventional lines converted to Shinkansen gauge). Both of the trains feature several new types of equipment for reducing pantograph noise and noise from the lower part of cars, which have the greatest impact on overall noise level in series E2-1000, operating at a maximum speed of 275 km/h. Running tests were conducted with the FASTECH360 trains to measure wayside noise at a point 25 meters from the center of the track and 1.2 meters above the ground. The results show that to operate at the same noise levels as trains in service (series E2 and E3 (coupled) running at 275 km/h), FASTECH360S and FASTECH360Z (coupled) would have to run at approximately 330 km/h, and FASTECH360S (solo) at approximately 340 km/h. Although the goal of 360 km/h is yet to be attained, it was confirmed that the countermeasures incorporated in the FASTECH360 trains greatly reduced wayside noise. These measures are used for the new generation Shinkansen trains, "Series E5" which have been in operation on the Tohoku Shinkansen line since March 2011.