Originally Posted by
airoli
How will they inspect the Shinkansen tracks going forward?
Originally Posted by
AlwaysAisle
Instruments have improved and involved over the years that now all instruments for the inspections are compact and small enough that can be installed on regular revenue passenger trains. Now one shinkansen train will be fitted with the Instruments and inspections will be done during regular scheduled Shinkansen run.
JR Tokai will fit four N700S regular passenger trains with instruments to do Shinkansen track inspections. These trains will be called "Dr. S," and there will be a Dr. S logo next to the outside of the furthest entrance door (next to the engineer's control room) on Car 1 and Car 16. Dr. S logo will be added to odd number cars N700 Supreme logo on the outside of the car.
It is unlikely that JR Tokai will announce when and where Dr. S train will run. However, often there will be information leaked from the inside. This is not just JR Tokai, but pretty much all rail companies in Japan, when there is some unusual train running which will not be announced to the public, often information leaks from some insider in the company, and Tetsudou Otaku finds out about it beforehand. Same as one Dr. Yellow train left at JR West, schedule of Dr. Yellow run is not announced but Tetsudou Otaku often find out about it beforehand.
Announcement: Dr. S (in Japanese)