Earlier this month Odakyu Railway unveiled designs for the next generation of their famous Limited Express Romancecar series of trains. The Odakyu Romancecar series has been providing luxury high speed access between Tokyo and resort areas such as Hakone, Izu, and Enoshima since 1957.

This newest #70000 series “Red Romancecar” has a distinctive vermilion exterior that hearkens back to the traditional coloring of the earliest Romancecars, and has more seats with improved visibility through larger windows. [Read more…]

Kyoto Railway Museum opened their very first special exhibition this month with a nostalgic look back at the history of the Japanese Sleeper Train.

“The Sleeper Train” exhibition is divided into five main sections. The first section details the early history of the sleeper train in Europe and the Americas starting with the pioneering invention of the world’s first sleeping car by America’s Cumberland Valley Railway in 1838. [Read more…]

In a special collaboration with “Peanuts Worldwide” west Japan’s Hankyu Railway began running a special “Snoopy Train” on all three of its main routes this month. The Snoopy Trains are decorated inside and out with characters from the famous comic by the late great Charles M. Schulz, and are now running on the Hankyu Kyoto, Kobe, and Takarazuka Main Lines.

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This October JR Kyushu are to debut a new energy saving electric train which can run from overhead power lines or an electric storage battery. The new #819 series train has been dubbed “DENCHA” which stands for “Dual ENergy CHArge train”, and it will have a trial run on the Chikuho Main Line on October 1st.

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JR West have announced plans for a new Travel Service Center in Osaka Station to open in March of 2017. Responding to a continued increase in both domestic and overseas visitors, the new center will consolidate and strengthen facilities already available at Osaka Station and provide more multilingual support for foreign visitors.

According to the new plans, the current Tourist Information Office in Osaka Station will be moved to a location facing the station’s central ticket gates. At the same time the facilities will be expanded and more staff will be employed to offer information and consultation services in English, Korean, and Chinese. There will also be counters for foreign currency exchange, for hotel bookings, and facilities at the current station Baggage Room will be expanded. [Read more…]

Rail fans will be delighted to know that Hankyu Railway are releasing a new range of “kawaii” or “cute” souvenirs goods on September 12th. The new “Hankyu Densha” series of goods will be available for sale both on Hankyu station premises and in underground shopping arcades connected to those stations.

With a slightly retro-pop style the new goods will feature the famous Hankyu maroon train as their central motif with background images from the town and cityscapes served by Hankyu railway lines. These background designs will feature famous buildings from the major areas served by Hankyu Railways: Kobe, Takarazuka, Kyoto, and Umeda. Can you recognize all the famous locations represented below? [Read more…]

JR East have released fresh images and details of the new station slated to be built in the Shinagawa area in time for the 2020 Olympics. The new station, provisionally named “Shinagawa Shin-Eki” or “Shinagawa New Station”, will serve the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines and is due to be built on a disused rail-yard located roughly midway between the current Shinagawa and Tamachi Stations.

The project which was first announced in 2014 is being overseen by Kengo Kuma, who is perhaps Japan’s best known architect, and who is also designing the new Tokyo Olympic Stadium. [Read more…]

On August 22nd JR Shikoku published their annual white paper on lost property. This report constitutes a tally of every single forgotten item on JR Shikoku property from April of 2015 to the end of March this year.

Though a lost property report from Japan’s southern island of Shikoku may seem like a provincial subject to some, having analyzed the sometimes surprising data we believe it holds invaluable lessons for travelers in Japan (as well as some general life lessons and hope for humanity). And let’s not forget that JR Shikoku is no small enterprise. The company operates a railway system of 855.2 km, with 259 stations (including 2 temporary stations), and runs roughly 1,006 passenger trains a day. That’s a great big area in which to lose your stuff! [Read more…]

In preparation for next year’s debut of the luxury sleeper cruise train “Twilight Express Mizukaze” JR West have announced a major upgrade for one of the stations on the new train’s route.

Kinosaki Onsen Station serves the popular hot spring spa town of Kinosaki in Hyogo Prefecture. This small resort town on the Japan Sea coast is famous for its beautifully preserved streets, and willow-lined rivers, and over the next few months Kinosaki’s formerly modest station is to undergo a thorough makeover thanks to a joint project by JR West and Toyooka City Government. [Read more…]

This autumn Kintetsu Railway will launch a new excursion train that will run on their Minami Osaka and Yoshino Lines.

Decked out in deep blue livery the elegant new train is to be called the “Blue Symphony” and is meant to provide a superior level of comfortable travel for adults. The “Blue Symphony” will run between Osaka Abenobashi Station in central Osaka City and Yoshino Station in Nara Prefecture. Mount Yoshino is a popular scenic spot which is especially celebrated for the beauty of its cherry blossoms in the spring. Along the route of the train are other sites of cultural and historical importance such as the ancient town of Asuka which is the site of an ancient imperial capital, or Kimpusen-ji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the head temple of the Shugendo mountain sect. [Read more…]