T Railway Technology Today 2 (Edited by Kanji Wako) The ...
preference for highspeed operations, requiring less maintenance. However, conventional ballasted track is still found on more than 90% of railways in Japan. Rails Japan''s first line used verticallysymmetrical, wroughtiron doubleheaded rails. They were soon replaced around 1880 by asymmetrical steel flatbottom rails of greater toughness.