FASTER than a speeding bullet, well not quite, but at least Hampshire did manage to have a rare glimpse of the legendary high-speed Japanese train as it trundled by road through the county on its way to York.

The 200km-an-hour bullet train arrived in Southampton Docks after a 47-day voyage from Kobe in Japan on a journey that will end at the National Railway Museum in York.

Later this year the locomotive will be the centrepiece of a £300,000 exhibition and will be the first non-British train to be put on display in York.

The bullet train is held in such high regard in Japan that more than 2,000 rail enthusiasts in the Far East have contributed funds towards establishing the museum exhibition.

At a special ceremony in Southampton's Eastern Docks the executive vice-president of the West Japan Railway Company, Mr Naoki Hirano officially handed over the train to curator of the museum, Andrew Scott, and then a bottle of champagne was smashed over the front of the locomotive to mark the occasion.

The train had been brought to Southampton on board the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vessel Talisman.