500 Series Shinkansen

The 500 series is a Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) in Japan on the Tokaido Shinkansen line from 1997 until 2010 and on the Sanyo Shinkansen line since 1997. The trains were designed to run at 320 km/h but operated at 300 km/h until they left the primary Nozomi service in 2010, after which they were refurbished and moved to all-stations Kodama service. The design was overseen by the German industrial designer Alexander Neumeister, and the front was shaped to mimic a kingfisher beak to reduce energy use and noise. All sixteen cars of each original trainset were powered, giving a maximum of 18.24 MW. Each train cost an estimated 5 billion yen and only nine were built. Eight were later shortened to eight-car V sets, which run at up to 285 km/h.