Two carriages of the Tohoku Shinkansen uncoupled causing the bullet train to stop between stations at around 8:07 a.m. on Sept. 19 before resuming operation at around 1:12 p.m., East Japan Railway Co.

NIIGATA--Without a human driver at the controls, a Shinkansen bullet train began pulling out of the deadly quiet JR Niigata Station at 1:50 a.m. on Nov. 17 and soon reached a speed of 100 kph.

From the very first run of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen on October 1, 1964, until the present day, there has never been a single derailment or collision on the entire full-standard Shinkansen rail ...