PM Modi, Shinzo Abe ride on famed Shinkansen bullet train

Accompanied by his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday travelled to Kobe, a city on Osaka Bay in Japan, on the famous superfast bullet train- the Shinkansen, whose speed ranges from 240 kms per hour to 320 kms per hour.

"On the way to Kobe with PM @AbeShinzo. We are on board the Shinkansen bullet train," Prime Minister Modi tweeted along with pictures of him in deep conversation with Abe.

Both the leaders boarded the train along with their respective delegations from Tokyo and following their arrival in Kobe, they will visit the Kawasaki Heavy Industries facility, where high-speed trains are manufactured.

Yesterday during the joint statement, Abe had said that Prime Minister Modi will see for himself that the Shinkansen train's technology is the safest in the world.

One of the most interesting features of the train is that for most of its journey, the magnetic levitation train does make contact with the ground, but hovers 10 centimetres above as it's propelled through the air with electrically-charged magnets on either side of the track. Just like a plane, its wheels go up when it gets up enough speed.