JR East begins Japan's first shinkansen freight service

TOKYO - East Japan Railway Co. has launched the country's first freight service using shinkansen bullet trains, aiming to swiftly deliver goods such as fresh produce from the northeastern region of Tohoku to the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The freight service operated for the first time on March 23, with seven freight cars coupled to a Tohoku Shinkansen passenger train, carrying around 800 boxes, which also included scallops and precision machinery. The train departed a railyard in Morioka in the morning and arrived at one in Tokyo about four hours later.