700 Series as Hikari Railstar at Shin-Osaka Station

The 700 Series Shinkansen trainsets for Japan's Shinkansen dedicated high-speed rail lines were built between 1997 and 2003, 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 67 trains have been built and are in service. Top speed is 285 km/h (177 mph); 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 a blue band beneath the windows, 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.

700 series trains are used for Nozomi, Hikari, and Kodama services on the Tokaido and Sanyo lines.