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Railfan Magazine News has an article about the third sector company that will take over JR Hokkaido's Esashi Line (the portion that JRH themselves didn't shut down, anyway). The English name will be South Hokkaido Railway Company, and the line will be renamed the Isaribi Line. The company's Japanese name will be Dōnan Isaribi Tetsudō. According to the Wikipedia article, they'll run 9 KIHA40s. I think all will be transferred from JRH, but only 2 will get the livery and interior treatment shown in the links below. They'll be nicknamed Nagamare. The livery is a very dark blue or violet color, like the night sky, and there's an outline of Mt. Hakodate's silhouette and the stars of the night sky. Below the silhouette there are yellow and orange dots representing town lights of southern Hokkaido as well as gyoka, lights used to lure fish during nighttime fishing. The interior will feature refurbished seats with headrests, and ekiben tables will be added made of south Hokkaido cedar. These cars will run on both chartered and regularly scheduled services. Tetsudo News: http://railf.jp/news/2016/02/05/140000.html English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Hokkaido_Railway_Company Company homepage in Japanese: http://www.shr-isaribi.jp/ Company page with same rendering of exterior as well as an interior rendering: http://www.shr-isaribi.jp/info/622/

Not the most exciting of setups, but there you go...

With the opening of the line a few days away, an interesting short documentary/commercial by Meiden Corporation, which manufactures all the transformers and electrical substations for shinkansen lines. The first segment is the installation of a transformer inside the Seikan Tunnel. Later we see the substation at Shin Hakodate.

Bit of old news from two weeks back, but it was revealed that the number of services on the Hokkaido Shinkansen will be set at 13 r/t a day. 10 round trips will be Tokyo - Shin Hakodate-Hokuto services, the remaining 3 r/t will be SHH-Sendai, SHH-Morioka, and SHH-Shin-Aomori. All Tokyo-SHH services and the SHH-Sendai service will be limited stop Hayabusa, while the SHH-Morioka and SHH-Shin-Aomori will be the frequent stop Hayate services. During holiday/special event periods, up to 4 additional r/t will be added to meet passenger demand. Currently, there are 10 r/t Hakucho/Super Hakucho ltd. express services between Hakodate and Aomori. Including the remaining night trains, approx. 4000 passengers are carried through the Seikan Tunnel daily. It is projected that number will increase to 6000/day with the introduction of shinkansen services. It is still unknown if the Tokyo-Shin Hakodate-Hokuto travel time will be under 4 hours, considered an important target, which would allow passengers from Tokyo departing before 8am to arrive in Hakodate around noontime. A more official announcement is scheduled for mid-September. *summarized from Hokkaido Shimbun print edition article 8/27/2015

last Sunday:

Hakodate Liner may be expanded to 6 car trains for peak period services. It appears JR Hokkaido is considering adding an additional 3 carriages to the originally planned 3 carriage Hakodate Liner shuttle services between Shin-Hakodate Hokuto and Hakodate, scheduled to start next spring. The additional carriages will require lengthening of a platform at Shin Hakodate Hokuto Station. Cited was the capacity of a Hokkaido Shinkansen H5 trainset at 731 passengers, while the capacity of a 3 carriage shuttle train would be 441 passengers. Doubling that number would ensure all could get a ride to Hakodate during heavy traffic periods. Business interests are welcoming the move. http://dd.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/area/donan/1-0151676.html Hokkaido Shinkansen terminal platforms may be located west of the main Sapporo Station platforms. It has come to light that JR Hokkaido is considering locating the platforms of the Hokkaido Shinkansen, scheduled for completion to Sapporo in 2030, approx. 300m west of the current station. Originally it was planned to build the shinkansen platforms at the current location of the (south side) #1 and #2 zairaisen tracks, and build a new zairaisen platform on the north side. However, doing so would result in traffic conflicts affecting up to 100 scheduled zairaisen services due to trains crossing over, so the option of building at the west location is being considered. However, having shinkansen platforms at that location would reduce greatly convenience for passengers, as they would be located far from subway and long distance bus connections. http://dd.hokkaido-np.co.jp/news/economy/economy/1-0152629.html

A run early this morning from Shin Aomori. First time for this train.

Spotted in a local bank building lobby, a countdown board for the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen as far as Shin Hakodate. Note the artist's conception of the train- very E7ish, wouldn't you say?? (previous depictions were more fastech 360-like).