Research and development (R&D) has helped to maintain the high safety and service standards of the Tokaido Shinkansen since it first started operations almost 50 years ago. Recent R&D has involved large-scale field data collection and work by the Komaki Research Center. This paper discusses some examples of R&D innovations for the Tokaido Shinkansen, which reflect the developments in R&D approaches over time. One example is earthquake countermeasures, focusing on the derailment and deviation countermeasures for the Tokaido Shinkansen. Anti-derailing guard rails and post-derailment stoppers were developed and various experiments were conducted in order to not only confirm the efficacy of the earthquake countermeasures but also elucidate derailment mechanisms. The other example is condition monitoring systems. The bogie vibration detection system, which is one example of a condition monitoring system, is developed and installed on the Series N700A trainsets to monitor all bogies' conditions. These achievements of R&D further enhanced safe and reliable transportation of the Tokaido Shinkansen.

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An analysis of individual differences in behavior under high arousal conditions was conducted. Participants completed a measure of optimism (the Explanatory Style questionnaire) and were divided into high and low optimists on the basis of these scores. Then, participants played the “water-pipe game” under conditions of “time pressure” and “severity” designed to increase arousal. (“Emergency” consists of both these factors together.) In this game, they had to click a computer mouse to complete the game using the minimum number of clicks. We found that high optimists' click frequency increased and their thinking time declined under the high-arousal condition. This was not so in the control condition, who tended to act promptly without much active thought. On the other hand, we found that low optimists' click frequency did not increased under any conditions, but their total number of clicks was larger than high optimists'. Namely low optimists seemed to act carefully but in an inefficient fashion. Processing efficiency theory can account for this pattern: anxiety leads to a reduction in the storage capacity of the working memory system. These results suggest that trait optimism can influence behavior patterns such as “choking” under pressure.

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We have developed a new driving assistance system that can help low-skilled drivers improve their driving skills. We did this in three steps. First, we developed a statistical method to extract distinctions between high- and low-skilled drivers on the basis of AdaBoost, which selects a small number of critical operation features between high- and low-skilled drivers. Second, we built a driving skill evaluation model on the basis of the extracted features. Finally, we performed a series of experiments using a driving simulator, in which advice based on extracted features was supplied to low-skilled drivers and was expected to improve their driving skill. We also proposed an index for evaluating driving skill change, and results show the advice effectively improved the drivers' driving skills.

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There are many problems in sharp curves negotiation such as large lateral force, squeal noises and excessive wear of wheel flange and rail gauge corner. To solve these problems, single axle steering bogie (proto type: FS576) has been developed by Tokyo Metro and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The authors confirmed good curving performance by FS576 on the result of field test. Therefore, Tokyo Metro adopted this newly single axle steering bogie (production type: SC101) for new series 1000 in Ginza line. SC101 improves lateral force, noise level, and lateral acceleration of rail in passing curves. In this paper, the design concept and outline of steering bogie SC101 for series 1000 are described. And the curving performance of SC101 is evaluated based on the result of field test and commercial service.

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To enhance the safety and reliability of railway transportation, it is one of the most important tasks to check the track condition frequently and accurately. This paper describes a track condition monitoring technique using car-body motions. In an inverse problem to estimate track geometry in longitudinal level from vertical car-body acceleration and pitching rate measured by in-service vehicle, dynamic programming filter and Kalman filter were applied. Study results confirmed that proposed solutions can be used to estimate track geometry in level with desired precision.

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This paper summarizes a new development of a compact size onboard device for condition monitoring of railway tracks followed by a former development of a portable onboard device. Track irregularities are estimated from a vertical and lateral acceleration and roll rate of a car body. Rail corrugation is detected from cabin noise with spectral peak calculation. A GPS system and a map-matching algorithm are used to pinpoint the location of faults on tracks. The device is driven by Li-ion battery for 6 hours or outside power source. Accelerometers, rate gyroscope and GPS were redesigned to give higher performance. One can add a microphone outside if a condition monitoring of rail corrugation is necessary. Collected data are usually kept in an inside un-volatility memory (SSD) or a SD card. Communication unit transfers the collected data to a data server via cellular phone. The compact size onboard devices provide regular monitoring of tracks for sustaining railway system with securing safety.

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