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（英会話リスニングスクリプト）
By one method of comparing speeds, the Model
500 is actually faster than the TGV.
JR has applied to Britain's Guinness Book
of Records for acknowledgement as the world's fastest train
in terms of average speed between two stations, having averaged
261.8 kph between Hiroshima and Kokura.
According to the 1997 Guinness, the record
holder is a TGV that travelled at an average speed of 253
kph between Paris and another station.
The new train operates twice a day between
Shin-Osaka and Hakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, stopping at Okayama,
Hiroshima and Kokura.
It connects Shin-Osaka and Hakata in two
hours and 17 minutes, clipping 15 minutes off the travel
time of a conventional Nozomi.
The first shinkansen route between Shin-Osaka
and Hakata in 1975 took three hours and 44 minutes at a
speed of 210 kph.
Meanwhile, East Japan Railways have recently
launched a mini-bullet-train service linking Tokyo and Akita
in northeastern Japan.
The trains, called Komachi, are smaller
than bullet trains, enabling them to run on conventional
tracks.
They run 13 times a day, connecting Tokyo
and Akita in 3 hours and 49 minutes, clipping 48 minutes
off the previous time for the same route.
This service is thought to be significant,
as it will promote relations between the Tokyo area and
northeastern Japan.
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