The 700 Series Shinkansen trainsets for Japan's Shinkansen dedicated high-speed rail lines were built between 1997 and 2003, entering service in 1999. The design goal was to produce a train almost as fast as the 500 Series Shinkansen but at a substantially lower cost. This goal was met, and 67 trains have been built and are in service. Top speed is 285 km/h (177 mph); given that speeds higher than that are only permitted on a few stretches of line, the journey time is actually little longer than for a 500 series.
Unlike the 500 series the 700 series is not a thing of beauty, with a fat, bulbous 'duck-bill' nose. They are painted white with a blue band beneath the windows, and are used on almost all levels of service on the Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen lines.
700 series trains are used for Nozomi, Hikari, and Kodama services on the Tokaido and Sanyo lines. When used for Hikari service, the trains are called Hikari Rail Star to differentiate them from the standard 300 series Hikari trains.