Survey on Alignment Standards for High-speed railway
Hideyuki TAKAI
Tokaido Shinkansen started to run in October 1964. The epoch-making maximum speed
of 200km/h followed by a later economic success established possibility of high
speed railways and triggered today's international high speed railway boom. The most
important point of the success lies in the decision made to adopt high grade alignment
standards independent of the existing lines. 30 years has passed from the opening of
Tokaido Shinkansen. Now, other Shinkansen lines have come to be operated and recently
speedup projects are underway. This report explains concepts of alignment standards
for maximum cant, minimum curve radius, transition curve length of higth-speed
railways.