Safety
High-speed rail saves lives. Since 1964, Japan's high-speed rail system has moved 11 billion passengers without a single injury or fatality.
Grade-separated tracks virtually eliminate high-speed rail accidents
With constant fatal accidents across America, our car-centric transportation system kills more than 36,000 people every year, and injures millions more. That's over five times more Americans dead on the roads every year than we lost during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The carnage continues year after year, with little done to change the cycle of death. In the European Union, the fatality risk for car occupants from 2014-2018 was about 50 times higher than for train passengers
SOURCE: The Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, U.S. Department of Transportation
At high speeds, train operators cannot rely solely on their own eyesight and roadside signals. Train-control systems continuously monitor speed, braking and other factors and automatically intervene if danger arises.
The highway system entrusts safety to millions of individual drivers. Texting, drinking, falling asleep at the wheel, poor judgment all contribute to serious and fatal train accidents. Travel in America is far safer with high-speed rail.
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Japan's Shinkansen high-speed rail system began operation in 1964. Since then, the Shinkansen has carried billions of passengers without a single fatality caused by a collision or derailment. Over 386 million trips are made annually.
At the foundation of Japan's system is a culture that puts safety first and is practiced by every person who works on the Shinkansen line. Personnel follow cooperative safety protocols.
Japan enacted a "Safety Code" which requires that employees at every level work to ensure safety and protect human life. Accountability and precision are prioritized over reliance on technology alone.
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