Feat of engineering
The looping tunnel of Shimizu
Apparently the train only travels through the tunnel going from Niigata to Gunma (??), so my friend and I decided to add a short trip to Niigata by shinkansen to our itinerary. This allowed us to also go to the Sea of Japan, which was on our bucket list. After playing around Niigata City for a few hours we took the shinkansen as close to the loop tunnel as we could get and then transferred to local trains.
The looping tunnel is really pretty cool when you think about it. The mountains are too steep for a train to travel straight down. Traveling in a circle cuts the steepness of the incline, and makes it safe for the train. Riding the train through the tunnel it was a little difficult to tell you are going in a circle, because you are in a tunnel and have no point of reference out of the windows, but if you watch the car in front of you, you can tell the train is traveling around a curve.
The looping tunnel is really pretty cool when you think about it. The mountains are too steep for a train to travel straight down. Traveling in a circle cuts the steepness of the incline, and makes it safe for the train. Riding the train through the tunnel it was a little difficult to tell you are going in a circle, because you are in a tunnel and have no point of reference out of the windows, but if you watch the car in front of you, you can tell the train is traveling around a curve.
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| Train line map inside the train. |
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| Reading up about the looping tunnel while riding the train |
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| Enjoying a cloudy day at the Sea of Japan |
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