Eight railway companies in Japan’s eastern Kanto region have announced that they will stop using tickets with magnetic strips and replace them with tickets using QR codes.

Many people now use prepaid IC cards or smartphone apps which can be scanned at the ticket gates. However, paper tickets with magnetic strips are still sold at railway stations and these need to be inserted into the ticket gates before popping out on the other side of the gate.

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Three major railway companies in Japan’s western region of Kansai have announced plans to introduce a contactless payment system using debit and credit cards.

Up till now travelers have had to use either paper tickets or prepaid IC cards to pay their fares. But by the end of 2024, passengers at the stations of Kintetsu Railway, Hankyu Railway, and Hanshin Electric Railway will be able to pay their fares by simply tapping their bank cards at the ticket gates. [Read more…]

Seibu Railway has announced that from January 1, 2024, all of its trains will run on electricity from 100% renewable sources and that it will operate with effectively zero CO2 emissions. According to the railway company, the reduction in CO2 emissions will be equivalent to the amount produced by 57,000 households.

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Hankyu Railway will introduce a new seat reservation service on the Hankyu Kyoto Line from the summer of 2024. This will be Hankyu’s first seat reservation service and will be available on limited express, commuter express and semi-express trains that run between Osaka and Kyoto.

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Three colorful new trains are now running on the Namboku Line in Osaka Prefecture in advance of the line’s extension to the city of Minoh next year. The trains are designed to help promote the charms Minoh – which is particularly famous for the beautiful scenery of its forested park and waterfall.

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This summer, Okinawa Urban Monorail, commonly known as “Yui Rail”, introduced new three-car trains to ease over-crowding on the increasingly popular line.

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JR Shikoku are giving their #8000 series limited express trains a complete upgrade to increase passenger comfort and add a dash of style.

The #8000 series was JR Shikoku’s first limited express train and was first introduced in 1992. Currently it is used for Shiokaze services that run between Okayama and Matsuyama and Ishizuchi services that run between Takamatsu and Matsuyama. [Read more…]

Japan’s first new tram service in 75 years has now been up and running since August 26th, but has up till now faced one tiny problem — too many names.

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In a joint statement, JR East and JR West announced on August 30th that the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension will open between Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture and Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture on March 16th, 2024. Currently, the Hokuriku Shinkansen runs between Tokyo and Kanazawa, but the eventual plan is to have the line extended to Osaka.

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Osaka Metro has decided the name of the new subway station that will serve Yumeshima Island in Osaka — the designated site for the Osaka World Expo in 2025. The station, like the island, will be called “Yumeshima”. Osaka Metro have also released some design images of the new station.

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