Fukuoka: One of Japan's first types of Shinkansen bullet trains ran from Okayama to Hakata Station on its last regular run, 44 years after the model made its debut.

Some 1,000 people were waiting for the arrival of the round-nose "0 Series" model yesterday at Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture at 6:23 p.m. Local time, with some calling out, "You did a good job!"

The 152 reserved seats on the train were sold out in seconds after they were put on sale on October 30 and many people flocked to Okayama Station early morning yesterday for the 248 non-reserved seats, according to West Japan Railway Co.

After the end of the regular run, special runs are being planned for the remaining "0 Series" for three days in December -- December 6,13 and 14.

The "0 Series" models were launched as a "dream express" on October 1,1964 - nine days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games - on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line as the first-ever shinkansen trains in Japan. Their maximum speed was 210 kilometers per hour, the world's fastest at the time. The type has since mostly been replaced by later state-of-the-art models.

The "0 Series" had recently been run on its Sanyo Shinkansen Line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations.

Source : PTI