, or , is the technical research company under the Japan Railways

Japan Railways

The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as , consists of seven for-profit companies that took over most of the assets and operations of the government-owned Japanese National Railways on April 1, 1987...

 group of companies.

Overview

RTRI was established in its current form in 1986 just before Japanese National Railways

Japanese National Railways

, abbreviated or "JNR", was the national railway network of Japan from 1949 to 1987.-History:The term Kokuyū Tetsudō "state-owned railway" originally referred to a network of railway lines operated by nationalized companies under the control of the Railway Institute following the nationalization...

 was privatised and split into separate JR group companies. RTRI conducts research about everything related to trains, railways and their operation. Funding is received from the government as well as the private railway companies. RTRI works both on developing new railway technology, such as magnetic levitation, and improving the safety and economy of current technology.

Research topics include earthquake detection and alarm systems, systems for detecting obstacles on level crossings, improving adhesion between train wheels and tracks, reducing energy usage, noise barrier

Noise barrier

A noise barrier is an exterior structure designed to protect sensitive land uses from noise pollution...

s and preventing vibrations, among other topics.

RTRI is the main developer behind the Japanese Maglev train

JR-Maglev

JR-Maglev is a magnetic levitation train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway Technical Research Institute . JR-Maglev MLX01 is one of the latest designs of a series of Maglev trains in development in Japan since the 1970s...

.

Main office and branch office

Research facilities

• Kunitachi Institute - 2-8-38 Hikari-cho, Kokubunji-shi, Tokyo, 185-8540, Japan
• Wind Tunnel Technical Center
• Shiozawa Snow Testing Station
• Hino Civil Engineering Testing Station
• Gatsugi Anti-Salt Testing Station

Office

• Tokyo - 844 Shin-Kokusai Bldg. 3-4-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan
• Shinjuku

Gauge Change Train

The RTRI is developing a variable gauge system, called the "Gauge Change Train

Gauge Change Train

The Gauge Change Train or is the name given to a Japanese project started in 1994 to develop a high-speed train with variable gauge axles to allow inter-running between the standard gauge Shinkansen network, and the narrow gauge provincial network....

", to allow Shinkansen

Shinkansen

The , also known as THE BULLET TRAIN, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to currently consist of of lines with maximum speeds of , of Mini-shinkansen with a...

trains to access lines of the original rail network.