SHINKANSEN were called the outdated fool!

In the 1950s, the demand of transportation on the railroads through revival of the Pacific War grew rapidly. Especially the transport capacity of the main Tokaido line which was the primary important main line in Japan of those days and had almost reached its limit. Whole-line electrification of the main Tokaido line was completed at last in 1956. However, the shortage of transport capacity was still serious. In 1957, JNR planned to reinforce the transport capacity of the main Tokaido line. It had the following three proposals: One proposal was to make the main Tokaido line of the existing narrow gauge a four-track line. Another was a proposal to completely reconstruct the track with another double track. It had a proposal of a standard orbit, and a proposal of a narrow gauge. Originally for reinforcement of the transport capacity of Tokaido, JNR must have determined the proposal of the four-track line. However, President SOGO JNR and a SHIMA engineer considered the possibilities of the future railroad and they dared to determine construction of the new line with an orbit of the width of difficult international standards. It resembled the DANGAN-TRAIN plan of the pre-war days. By progress of post-war technology, it became a completely innovative design. However, it was too difficult a plan. It was not only technically difficult but they were also called outdated fools from the world or Japanese people. They put up with criticism and blame.