MANY countries seem obsessed with high-speed rail. Britain intends to build a controversial high-speed link known as HS2, connecting London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. In California there are plans to build a high-speed link between San Francisco and Los Angeles. France is slowly expanding its high-speed lines (known as the TGV) while other countries, such as Spain and China, are enlarging their networks of whizzy trains more rapidly. Japan's high-speed “bullet” train is often held up as an exemplar by rail boosters and governments keen to acquire their own shiny new train-sets. How did Japan come to be the world leader in high-speed trains?
