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  • this is how a shinkansen bullet  train factory is made in japan

  • so today we are in hamamatsuka and i gotspecial one for you i'm taking you to a shinkansen  

  • bullet train factory today and i'm gonna take you  on a full tour so i've never done this before i've  

  • never gone inside of a train factory in fact  i've kind of always wanted to do this and now  

  • today we get to do it so i'm super super excited  for this but before i start if you guys want to  

  • see what i'm doing on the daily then check out my  instagram account if you guys want to help support  

  • channel check out my japan merch and if you have  any questions about japan or japan travels then  

  • check out my discord community let's get started  with this factory tour let me take you inside

  • so i'm here at the jr central hamamatsu workshop  aka train factory it's the one and only location  

  • in japan that conducts a complete overhaul  inspection that fully disassembles repairs and  

  • reassembles the dokaido shinkansen bullet trains  the most popular and busiest train line in japan  

  • it started as a repair shop in 1912 for steam  locomotives and over time as technology evolved  

  • so did the workshops servicing trains across the  ages from electronic locomotives electric trains  

  • and now shinkansen today there are a total of  about 1300 hard-working jr central staff and  

  • affiliated workers who come together at the  workshop to ensure that all of their shinkansen  

  • trains are operated at peak performance and  safety and what do you know i'm the first youtube  

  • content creator to ever visit this workshop  so we're going shinkansen long with this one  

  • alright so i made it inside but today i think i'm  gonna be wearing something a little bit different  

  • let's see what i'm to wear there you  go let's go inside of the factory now  

  • so i've got my helmet on and time to  find the trains hi can you show me inside

  • of wow the shinkansen workshop is so massive  

  • and why i want to call it a train  factory or even train maintenance plan  

  • to better capture its scale the entire property  is about 318 000 square meters just over 78 acres  

  • oh there's a shinkansen coming into the plant  right after the train arrives it goes through  

  • its first inspection and diagnostic which  determines what types of extra maintenance  

  • and service is required so i got into  this area let's see what's going on here  

  • after the initial inspection the train is  ushered into the maya sagyaba pre-maintenance  

  • area a shinkansen train usually consists of 16  carriage cars but coming into this area it's  

  • already been separated into four stripped down  carriage cars in order to maintain and service  

  • the shinkansen the workers must take it apart  section by section and then piece by piece  

  • as each must go through a strict and rigorous  inspection process this requires for each piece  

  • to be transported to various areas of the plant so  different teams can work on the different sections  

  • simultaneously hence the requirement for so  much space in fact the workers are divided  

  • into four teams body parts undercarriage and  inspection and each worker required to master  

  • a unique set of skills for their section  before being allowed to service the train  

  • oh they're disassembling the seats now it  seems like there's a lot for them to do  

  • in fact there's so much work that takes place in  the maya saguba that it requires about 60 workers  

  • to finish one carriage wow everything's gone  so i'm inside of the train right now and you  

  • can see that it's all taken apart it's pretty  awesome oh cool let's go see what's up here  

  • so i'm just above the train right nowclimbed the stairs and you can see it's  

  • a little bit dirty but by the time it gets out  of here it's going to be polished and cleaned up

  • once the four carriage cards have been  stripped they're individually separated  

  • and moved to the dismantling warehouse sothink i've just arrived a little bit early but  

  • the train should be coming here and they're  gonna separate the body and the wheelbase  

  • in order to move the train carriages onto the  service tracks they're attached to powerful  

  • orange vehicles called train pullers which  can pull up to four carriages at one time  

  • oh and that's a traverser which moves the trains  from one warehouse to the next damn i don't know  

  • what it is though but for some reason watching  a shinkansen moving laterally is so mesmerizing

  • depending on the warehouse location the entire  moving process could take up to 15 minutes to  

  • save the lease is a massive effort to move these  train cars so it's always performed slowly and  

  • cautiously to ensure safety of all of the workers  the hamamatsu workshop factory works on up to 4  

  • shinkansen at one time in fact they inspect and  repair about 50 shinkansen 800 carriages each year

  • now that the carriage is safely secured  inside of the dismantling warehouse a new  

  • team of workers can start their tasks first  the entire train carriage is raised up via  

  • specifically designed lifts to allow for  safe undercarriage access these powerful  

  • machines can lift a train that weighs up  to 40 tons about two and a half meters high

  • let's go talk to that person hi what are you doing

  • once fully lifted the workers begin to separate  the train body from the undercarriage as well  

  • as the removal of underfloor equipment again  all these sections of the parts are destined  

  • for a separate warehouse in the plant and  what's truly amazing about this process is  

  • how much even with such a massive  scale transportation vehicle like  

  • a japanese bullet train is performed by worker  technical skill and hand each worker though is  

  • required to engage in a two and a half month  training program at the start of their career  

  • culminating into a strict in-house  test certification that must be passed  

  • plus any additional training and licenses  for jobs like a crane operator ultimately  

  • facilitating an efficient and safe working  environment damn look at that train puller  

  • go it guides the undercarriage into this orange  undercarriage traverser which automatically  

  • transports them into a neighboring  warehouse for inspection and maintenance

  • after the undercarriage has been detached the  workers focus on disassembling the electronics  

  • and other equipment under the carriage  this is a critical part in the process  

  • that workers must be diligent in taking  inventory of all the parts removed to  

  • ensure that not a single piece is misplaced  as an important piece of their workflow  

  • workers use specialized tablets to track each  individual part and information about each  

  • part so that it properly gets maintained  and reassembled in the correct location

  • at the same time smaller parts like bolts and  screws are generally replaced with new ones so  

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  • your first domain or website cool let's continue  on while the body is transported to the cleaning  

  • warehouse let's follow the undercarriage to  see what happens to it in the next building

  • this place literally is just blowing me away it  is a so so massive there's just so much space  

  • but i guess it makes sense when you're dealing  with so many trains that come through here

  • this is amazing you can see just behind  me they're taking the wheels off the base  

  • the undercarriage daisy in japanese is composed of  the frame chassis wheels axles and motors in order  

  • for the undercarriage to be fully inspected each  part must be disassembled to separately undergo  

  • its own exhaustive testing as the components  are separated they're sent to diagnostics  

  • and parts like the axles are inspected via  ultrasonic sensors magnetic particles and  

  • fiber scope to ensure it's free from defects while  wheels are turned and re-profiled with an accuracy  

  • of a tenth of a millimeter even the smallest of  components such as the bearings are inspected

  • oh wow that giant orange crane  is used for lifting up the frame  

  • alright let's see what's going on here oh this is  their undercarriage operation inspection room once  

  • all of the undercarriage components pass their  individual inspections they're reassembled to  

  • make a complete undercarriage which then undergoes  a running test at speeds of 300 kilometers per  

  • hour or about 186 miles per hour the same top  speed that shinkansen said would operate on  

  • their fastest stretch on the sanyo line hi can  i ask you some questions hi what are you doing

  • once the automated test has run its course and  the undercarriage receives a passing result it  

  • must then undergo a manual inspection  in order to move on to the next stage

  • and this is where all of the disassembled  equipment and parts are cleaned and repaired  

  • ah this is kind of interesting let's  see what's behind that door over there

  • hey guys what are you doing

  • this room is where the pantograph gets inspected  and maintained you know the top part of the train  

  • that connects to the electrical power lines  interestingly all of the components used for  

  • equipment inspection and repair are prepared  in advance and a component such as bolts and  

  • packaging are preset in a fixed position in  dedicated trays in total there are about 450  

  • different component kit trays to help manage parts  and about 300 unique trays are used in one day  

  • look at this even every single tool has their spot

  • so i'm right in front of the lead shinkansen  train and it's gonna be polished right now

  • after the body is thoroughly cleaned and repaired  it's transferred to the toso warehouse body paint

  • so this giant transparently walled area is where  the shinkansen body gets polished the shinkansen  

  • is so massive that animated robot arms are  used to ensure that the paint is applied evenly  

  • and just before this the lead car of  the shinkansen receives a specialized  

  • automated polishing treatment in this specific  area due to its unique aerodynamic shape the  

  • polishing creates a more adhesive surface for  the paint application the other carriages are  

  • moved to a separate area that's more equipped  for standard sidewalls and roof polishing

  • and here it looks like the body and  the wheelbase has been reattached  

  • this is the geese above warehouse aka assembly  area here the newly painted body undercarriage  

  • and undercarriage equipment are reassembled  also any components previously removed from  

  • the carriage interior are reinstalled  to create one functioning train guard

  • once all of the work is complete it's  moved to the final departure warehouse

  • by the way each train must pass four levels of  periodic inspection with each level becoming more  

  • and more exhaustive so inspections are performed  every 48 hours then every 60 000 kilometers about  

  • 45 days after that every 600 000 kilometers about  18 months and finally at 1.2 million kilometers or  

  • every 36 months which again is the most detailed  inspection as it's a complete teardown repair  

  • and rebuild taking about 14 days to fully complete  and the very inspection that i'm showing you today  

  • the traversal requires two  trained workers for operation  

  • one on each end to ensure safety today  there are a total of three workers as one  

  • of them is a trainee being instructed  on how to safely operate the vehicle  

  • so this is where the individual carriages are  finally joined to form one fully functioning  

  • and operational 16 car shinkansen bullet train

  • the recoupling process is performed  slowly and carefully as the workers  

  • make small adjustments by hand to  ensure a safe and secure connection

  • after the train is reconnected workers reaffix the  connecting panels and electrical cables between  

  • the carriages and from here the shinkansen  must still undergo an additional 1400 test  

  • in 117 different categories to ensure it's  working properly and safe for passengers to ride

  • so they're doing their final  inspections right now at the  

  • factory and after that the train is going to leave

  • as part of the final test that shinkansen  performs a test run and operates between  

  • hamamatsu and nagoya to further ensuresafe and comfortable ride for passengers  

  • the final test includes items such  as acceleration deceleration stopping  

  • vibration in the cabin and cabin air  pressure in tunnels only after fully  

  • passing all of these tests is the shinkansen  bullet train reintroduced into operation

  • so that's how a shinkansen factory is made in  japan if you guys like this video help me out  

  • and hit that like button if you guys want  to see more videos like this or anything  

  • related to japan hit that subscribe button and  above and i'll catch you guys in the next one

this is how a shinkansen bullet  train factory is made in japan

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