When the bullet train was first shown to the world in 1964 it was praised as a triumph of engineering. However, a major design flaw was produced when the trains would leave tunnels. Going faster than 200 miles per hour (320 kmph), the Shinkansen train would become a rifle, blasting out of the tunnel with an explosive bang.
Known as tunnel boom, it is created by the train forcing air along the enclosed tunnel, and building up the air pressure until it reaches the end of the tunnel when it is released in the form of a sonic boom.
Many people reported that they could hear loud bangs up to 1312 feet (400m) away. As a result, Japan set a decibel limit of 70 to prevent further noise-pollution levels.
Then, in 1994 an engineer and birdwatcher Eiji Nakastu found inspiration from the kingfisher, and thought about ways it could be applied to the train. After many tests, the result was a nose design similar to that of the kingfisher that offered better performance, and solved the noise issue.
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16 окт 2024
