JR Central has announced a comprehensive expansion plan for its free wireless LAN Wi-Fi service beginning this spring.
Free Wi-Fi will be expanded to all JR Tokaido Shinkansen stations between Tokyo and Osaka. Currently free W-Fi is only provided at 6 stations: Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Shin-Osaka. But from March 2018 this service will be extended to the remaining 11 stations. As the number of overseas tourists using the Tokaido Shinkansen is increasing, JR Central has decided to make it easier for them to obtain travel information with their smartphones. Areas where free Wi-Fi is available will be marked with a sign. Typically these signs will be found by ticket gates or in station waiting rooms.
In addition, from this summer JR Central will begin to make free Wi-Fi available on board all N700A series shinkansen trains. This work is due to be completed by winter 2019.
N700A series shinkansen train at Tokyo station
Also this summer work will begin on adding a free Wi-Fi service to the Kiha 85 series Limited Express Hida which runs between Nagoya and Toyama stations. This work is due to be completed by the end of this year.
From March 2018 free Wi-Fi will be made available at the following JR Central stations. Underlined stations on the Tokaido Main Line have shinkansen services in addition to regular train lines.
The Tokaido Main Line
Mishima – Numazu – Fuji – Shimizu – Shizuoka – Kakegawa – Aino – Hamamatsu – Toyohashi – Okazaki – Kariya – Nagoya – Gifu
The Gotemba line
Gotemba
The Minobu Line
Fujinomiya
The Chuo Main Line
Kanayama – Kōzōji – Nakatsugawa – Kiso-Fukushima
The Takayama Main Line
Gero – Takayama – Hida-furukawa
The Kisei Main Line
Tsu
The Sangu Line
Iseshi
How to use JR Central’s Free Wi-Fi
This service is freely available to use for passengers with devices with Wi-Fi capability, such as laptop PCs, tablets, or smartphones. You can access free Wi-Fi near any JR-Central Wi-Fi sign or sticker. Select “JR-Central_FREE”. Once you have activated your web browser, you will need to register your email address. You will also be asked to login again every 30 minutes but you can continue to use this service for as long as you wish.
Article by Michael Lambe. All rights reserved.
