700 SERIES SHINKANSEN

The '700 Series Shinkansen' trainsets for Japan's Shinkansen dedicated high-speed rail lines were built between 1997 and 2004, 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 83 trains have been built and are in service. Top speed in service is 285 km/h (177 mph), but given that speeds higher than that are only permitted on a few stretches of line, the journey time is actually only a little longer than for a 500 series.
Unlike the sleek 500 series, the 700 series is characterized by its flat 'duck-bill' nose. 16-car units are painted white with blue stripes beneath the windows, and are used for Nozomi, Hikari, and Kodama services on the Tōkaidō and Sanyo lines, while 8-car units used for the Sanyo Shinkansen Hikari Rail Star services have a darker livery (grey with black window areas and a yellow stripe beneath the windows) which also acts to visually deemphasize the units' nose area, resulting in a more streamlined impression.
Two "Doctor Yellow" trains based on the 700 series design are currently used for diagnostic work on the Tōkaidō and Sanyō lines. Both the 800 series and Taiwan High Speed 700T were directly developed from the 700 series. The new N700 series also evolved from the 700 series.