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The Economic Times
The Economic Times
National

How a birdwatcher solved the biggest problem with Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains

Japan's world-famous Shinkansen bullet trains were once making a noise so loud that people living near tunnels compared it to a sonic boom. Every time a train shot out of a tunnel at high speed, it unleashed a powerful pressure wave known as the "tunnel boom." The blast not only rattled nearby communities but also stopped engineers from pushing the trains even faster.

Then an unlikely hero arrived — a tiny kingfisher.

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