Even though the Tokaido Shinkansen boasts some of the world’s most sophisticated high-speed rail technologies, it has made little headway in overseas markets.

Which is nothing short of amazing, seeing as the bullet train has been in operation for 60 years and undergone all sorts of design and operating system changes.

Keiichi Kagayama, a corporate officer at Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) in charge of high-speed rail projects outside Japan, noted in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun that the bullet train technology has, however, taken root in Taiwan.

In stressing the importance of overseas expansion, he said raising funds on a grand scale will prove crucial to moving forward on a bullet train project that has stalled in the U.S. state of Texas.

Kagayama, 56, became a corporate officer in June 2024 after serving as vice chief of the company's Washington D.C. Office and president of a local subsidiary in Texas.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

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SUCCESSFUL IN TAIWAN

Asahi: Taiwan’s high-speed rail network opened in 2007, based on JR Tokai’s N700 series train. JR Tokai participated in a joint venture of Japanese companies, including West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), to provide technological and information support for the project.

Kagayama: Initially, it was decided to adopt the European standard (for Taiwan’s high-speed rail system), but a system proposed by the Japanese consortium was adopted after a powerful earthquake struck Taiwan in 1999.

After the opening, we also provided know-how on updates for facilities, rail extensions and construction of new stations.

We continue to offer support to introduce new trains and other aspects.

But (high-speed rail projects) must primarily be run by locals as it is they who use the trains and maintain the facilities.

In principle, railroads won’t be successful unless they use locally based infrastructure.

The project in Taiwan is going very well, thanks to local people who are doing their best.

SHINKANSEN IN TEXAS

Q: JR Tokai is currently working to bring a Shinkansen project in the U.S. state of Texas to fruition.

But it is struggling to raise the massive amount of funds required for the job.

The Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development (JOIN), a public-private fund that is almost wholly financed by the government, withdrew support for the construction project in November 2024 after it posted a loss of about 40 billion yen ($254.24 million).

Meanwhile, JR Tokai announced it intends to continue to be available for technological consultations.

A: JR Tokai founded a local subsidiary in 2016 and dispatched employees from Japan.

While the issue of funds remains a key factor, our efforts became sluggish temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak) announced plans in August 2023 to join the project and is proceeding with an application for subsidies from the U.S. federal government.

I worked in the United States between 2016 and 2021. Local people knew a lot about Shinkansen trains and I felt they were excited.

However, even though the project was well-received in urban areas, we received critical opinions from those who engaged in cattle breeding along the planned line.

We need to talk with people who are concerned about dividing large plots of land or worried about noise.

WHY OVERSEAS PUSH MATTERS

Q: It seems that the overseas expansion of high-speed rail systems, including the Texas project, is not proceeding as well as had been hoped.

A: A project of this kind is massive in scale and requires massive costs. Because we must pay attention not only to areas surrounding stations but also to areas along the line, I think it is a politically difficult project. As for exporting from Japan, it should be evaluated based on the entire system, but we encountered difficulties in gaining understanding.

No matter what we do, civil engineering structures such as tunnels and steel bridges get priority consideration, so, in some cases, we fall behind in cost competitiveness.

But overseas expansion is a must.

Through overseas expansion, we want to make Shinkansen trains running in Japan even better.

If we can create a new market, it will serve as an incentive for train manufacturers that support Shinkansen operations to work on technological developments.