Atami (95.4km / 59.6 miles)
The track layout at Atami Station is unique on the Tokaido Shinkansen. There are no passing loops here, just two tracks and two platforms. Any stopping trains, of which there at least two in each direction every hour, block the line. It seems the staff have to work extra smartly here to get the train despatched quickly.
As if to prove the point, within three minutes of Kodama 713 leaving, there is a Nozomi flashing through behind it. Back in 1964 the station only had announcements to warn passengers of fast trains passing through, but now there are secure platform doors to keep us safe.
In and around Atami Station
I wander down the stairs and towards the station exit. Lack of space means that Atami, unusually, doesn’t have an exit on the Shinkansen side and the only way out is to cut under the conventional tracks. There is a connection here again with the Tokaido Line and the station marks the boundary between JR East (services from Tokyo) and JR Central (services towards Nagoya) on that line.
Atami is one of Japan’s most prominent spa resorts: its numerous natural hot springs have spurned the building of many hotels and public baths. The station concourse, which was extensively modernised about ten years ago, is busy with returning tourists. I watch them buying their souvenirs to take home. There is certainly a citrus fruit theme here, with many gifts based on mikan (tangerines) or lemons.
I walk out into the little square opposite the station. Atami was first served by a quirky narrow gauge railway that had cars pushed by humans, it opened in 1895 and was extended to Odawara the following year. In 1907 it was converted to steam locomotive operation and a steam locomotive that used to work the line is on display here.
Train #4 – Atami to Shizuoka
Only three westbound Hikari services a day stop at Atami and my next train is one of them. Hikari 507, the 10:03 departure from Tokyo bound for Okayama, comes in on time at 10:40. We will next stop at Shizuoka passing through two stations which were not there when the line first opened. So, in this sense, our journey today replicates that by Kodama back in 1964.
As we leave the station there are more views of Atami just before we go through a short bore. Then, after passing the place where the ceremony to mark the start of construction on the line was held in April 1959, we plunge into the darkness of Shin-Tanna (7,959m), the longest tunnel on the line. Around halfway through here we are exactly 100km from Tokyo.
We are back into the light only momentarily and then we pass through a series of five shorter tunnels as we curve gently to the left to reach Mishima (111.3km).
The station here was opened in 1969; its layout is also unique in that the two fast tracks pass either side of a central island platform where the slow trains stop. As we pass, the train depot and sidings are visible on the left.
When the line opened it was never envisaged that it would be used for commuting, but gradually people started to live further from Tokyo and catch the Shinkansen into work. Several early morning Kodama services start from here now and they are balanced by trips back in the evening.
For the next 20km we are crossing another coastal belt. The Tokaido Line is closer to the sea passing through the city of Numazu which we skip. We are further inland to start with but as we head west we get closer. The area here is still largely built up and as we pass through Shin Fuji (135km), the first of three extra stations all opened in March 1988, it really is very Industrial.
We cross the Fuji River Bridge (1,373m), the longest on the line. The simple cantilever construction is shared by most of the other bridges which add up to 57kml, 12% of the total length. Just 50 miles away in the distance on the right Mount Fuji can sometimes be seen. Not today though, the photograph below was taken on an earlier trip with better weather.
The view around here of the Shinkansen passing in front of the famous volcano has probably become one of the most iconic pictures of modern Japan. An example seen here on a poster photographed back at Shin-Yokohama.
Having crossed the bridge, we are almost at the end of this coastal plain. We plunge into Kambara Tunnel (4,934m) and then after a brief breath of fresh air we are back in the dark inside Yui Tunnel (3,993m). A third tunnel, Okitsu (2,023m), follows and then after another shorter one, we are back again moving across another coastal plain.
The Tokaido Line which has been hugging the coast joins us on the left and is parallel with us as we eventually slow and head into Shizuoka for an on time arrival at 11:07. Our journey time of 27 minutes for the 72km from Atami compares with 28 back in 1965.
Trains To Beyond 