Safety record
During the Shinkansen's 45-year, nearly 7 billion-passenger history, there have been no passenger fatalities due to derailments or collisions, despite frequent earthquakes and typhoons. Injuries and a single fatality have been caused by doors closing on passengers or their belongings; attendants are employed at platforms to prevent such mishaps. There have, however, been suicides by passengers jumping both from and in front of moving trains.
The only derailment of a Shinkansen train in passenger service occurred during the
Chūetsu Earthquake on 23 October 2004. Eight of ten cars of the Toki No. 325 train on the
Jōetsu Shinkansen derailed near
Nagaoka Station in
Nagaoka,
Niigata. There were no casualties among the 154 passengers.
[7] In the event of an earthquake, an earthquake detection system can bring the train to a stop very quickly. Experimental
Fastech 360 trains have ear-like air resistance braking flaps to assist emergency stops at high speeds. A new anti-derailment device was installed after detailed analysis of the derailment.