Tōkaidō Shinkansen Test Runs Begin

On August 7, 1964, Japanese National Railways commenced high-speed test runs on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka using the 0 Series Shinkansen sets. Designed to reach 210 km/h, these trains featured aerodynamic shapes and advanced signaling to handle Japan's dense population corridors. The project overcame post-war reconstruction challenges and mountainous terrain with extensive tunneling. Its successful debut just before the Tokyo Olympics symbolized Japan's technological resurgence and influenced global high-speed rail development, including Europe's TGV and China's CRH networks.