<P> Government approval came in December 1958, and construction of the first segment of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka started in April 1959 . The cost of constructing the Shinkansen was at first estimated at nearly 200 billion yen, which was raised in the form of a government loan, railway bonds and a low - interest loan of US $80 million from the World Bank . Initial cost estimates, however, had been deliberately understated and the actual figures were nearly double at about 400 billion yen . As the budget shortfall became clear in 1963, Sogo resigned to take responsibility . </P> <P> A test facility for rolling stock, now part of the line, opened in Odawara in 1962 . </P> <P> The Tōkaidō Shinkansen began service on 1 October 1964, in time for the first Tokyo Olympics . The conventional Limited Express service took six hours and 40 minutes from Tokyo to Osaka, but the Shinkansen made the trip in just four hours, shortened to three hours and ten minutes by 1965 . It enabled day trips between Tokyo and Osaka, the two largest metropolises in Japan, changed the style of business and life of the Japanese people significantly, and increased new traffic demand . The service was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on 13 July 1967, and one billion passengers in 1976 . Sixteen - car trains were introduced for Expo' 70 in Osaka . With an average of 23,000 passengers per hour in each direction in 1992, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen is the world's busiest high - speed rail line . </P> <P> The first Shinkansen trains, the 0 series, ran at speeds of up to 210 km / h (130 mph), later increased to 220 km / h (137 mph). The last of these trains, with their classic bullet - nosed appearance, were retired on 30 November 2008 . A driving car from one of the 0 series trains was donated by JR West to the National Railway Museum in York, England in 2001 . </P>

When was the first bullet train in japan