Extraordinary Customer Experience thanks to amazing standards – Japanese Shinkansen vs French TGV
During our trip to Japan, from Tokyo to Nagoya, we experienced a Shinkansen trip. This Japanese high-speed train offers a truly unique journey.
With its futuristic aerodynamic design
The Shinkansen sets itself apart from its French counterpart, the TGV, in several ways:
- Being relatively low and close to the platform, it allows easy access for any passenger, even those burdened with multiple luggage items
- The ample space between seats ensures comfortable legroom, providing appreciable seating comfort
A remarkable “SMED” (Single-Minute Exchange of Die) takes place:
Just 9 minutes (measured by us in real time) from the last passenger disembarking (from the previous journey) to the first passenger boarding (for the next journey). During this interval, the following occurs:
- The train undergoes a complete cleaning between. In just 7 minutes, everything is spotless. For regular TGV users, this is a noticeable difference…
- The train is reorganized, notably by rotating the seats to face the direction of travel (Why does not EVERY train in the world doing the same?)
Ticket inspection is imperceptible to the passenger:
Since everyone adheres precisely to their assigned seat, the ticket controller doesn’t check tickets but ensures that seats designated as empty are indeed vacant.
Unlike on the TGV, where the customer must use an app to present his ticket, and this app requires an operational internet connection, and the internet connection is unreliable in the train is running at 300 km/h (186 mph)
Respect is everywhere, all the time:
The journey is characterized by a calm and respectful atmosphere, which significantly enhances the overall experience.
As typical, non-expert customers of both the Shinkansen in Japan and the TGV in France, we cannot observe any clear technological superiority from one train over the other.
However, these numerous standards of excellence, consistently applied to every journey, make the customer experience aboard the Shinkansen quite amazing.
