Ten of Japan's bullet trains will be broken up. They were flooded when Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan in October. The typhoon caused a lot of damage. There were many photos of the 10 shiny bullet trains lined up next to each other on tracks near the city of Nagano. They were deep in water after a nearby river burst its banks. The trains used to run between Tokyo and a city on the Sea of Japan coast. The line is now running just 80 per cent of its normal services. The bullet train company said it hopes to run a full service again by the end of March 2020.
Bullet trains are called Shinkansen in Japan. They started in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics. They became a symbol of Japan and were the world's fastest trains. They reach speeds of 320kph. The bullet train rail network covers 2,764km. People take around 350 million rides a year on the trains. A Shinkansen president spoke about the flooded trains. He said the floodwater seriously damaged motors and brakes. The total cost of the damage is around $135 million. He said: "For stability and safety, we [will] replace the trains with newly built ones instead of repairing them."