East Japan Railway (JR East) on Tuesday unveiled plans to introduce driverless bullet trains by the mid-2030s in an effort to make operations more efficient and sustainable.
The major railway company said it will initially aim to realize driverless operations for the Joetsu Shinkansen line between Niigata and Tokyo stations. The company will take incremental steps to automate the bullet trains.
There are different degrees of automation. As a start, JR East plans to run bullet trains with the second grade of automation between Nagaoka Station and the Niigata shinkansen station center by fiscal 2028, which ends in March 2029.
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