HIGASHISONOGI, Nagasaki -- A new model of bullet train set to debut on the Kyushu Shinkansen Line's soon-to-open Nagasaki route has received an enthusiastic welcome upon their arrival in this southwest Japan town, where large trailers took them from a port to a train depot on early Jan. 10.

       The Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen line, also known as the Nagasaki route, will open this fall between Takeo-Onsen Station in the Saga Prefecture city of Takeo and Nagasaki Station in the city of Nagasaki.

       Dubbed "Kamome," meaning seagull, the new cars were manufactured at Hitachi Ltd.'s Kasado Works factory in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Each car is 25 to 27 meters long, 3.3 m wide, and 3.6 m high. They were shipped Jan. 6 and unloaded at Nagasaki Prefecture's Kawatana port on Jan. 9.

       Despite their pre-dawn arrival, locals and railway fans waited by the national highway to catch a glimpse of the new shinkansen cars on their journey. At just past 1 a.m. on Jan. 10, the N700S cars came into sight, and cheers and camera flashes erupted from the around 200 people waiting at an intersection in the town of Higashisonogi. The new bullet train was taken to the Kyushu Railway Co.'s Omura train depot.

       (Japanese original by Hiroshi Watanuki, Sasebo Bureau)

       A trailer pulling a Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen "Kamome" bullet train car makes a right turn at an intersection while watched on by a large crowd, in the town of Higashisonogi, Nagasaki Prefecture, on Jan. 10, 2022. (Mainichi/Hiroshi Watanuki)

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