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JR East will loan a diesel railcar set for use on the Soya Line, while Tokyu will provide the Royal Express trainset which will be used on a yet undetermined itinerary from Sapporo to Eastern Hokkaido. The Royal Express is a DC EMU, so in AC and unelectrified JR Hokkaido territory, it will be pulled by a set of diesel locomotives coupled with a generator car providing hotel power.

Slated to start running on the Hakodate Main Line between Otaru and Oshamambe at the spring timetable revision in March of next year. These will eventually replace the kiha 40 type. Delivery of 6 units back in September. Various southern Hokkaido locales:

As of now no other information than this photo taken at Goryokaku is available.

Well my winter holiday begins this evening. I am taking the sleeper express Hamanasu most likely for the last time, as it's being axed this coming March (along with the Cassie) to make way for the shiney new Hokkaido Shinkansen. I have booked a lower berth (B shindai), and this too may be my last experience using this form of accomodation. In Aomori I will be taking a Hayabusa service on to Tokyo, with an arrival around 11am. I splurged a bit and got a seat in the green car.

JR East staff to be loaned to JR Hokkaido in bid to raise standards Oct. 16, 2013 - 03:15PM JST (http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/jr-east-staff-to-be-loaned-to-jr-hokkaido-in-bid-to-raise-standards) SAPPORO — The Hokkaido Railway Co (JR Hokkaido) has accepted an offer from East Japan Railway Co (JR East) to accept transfer staff in a bid to raise standards at the troubled rail operator. At a meeting last week, JR East president Tetsuro Tomita declined a request from JR Hokkaido for financial support, but offered technical support and staff loans, Fuji TV reported Wednesday. His offer was made after JR Hokkaido hit headlines when it was discovered it had been running a train on the Okhotsk express service between Sapporo and Abashiri with its automatic emergency brake disabled. That news came days after the beleaguered railway company announced that unrectified problems had been identified at 97 locations throughout its rail system. In August, the companies began an idea-sharing initiative related to safety management. However, the scheme was halted when the discovery of the unaddressed faults made headlines last month. In the latest in a series of high-profile problems at the company, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport yesterday said that the company had failed to accurately record the locations of the defects. Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Akihiro Ota, said section manager class employees would be dispatched from JR East to JR Hokkaido in an attempt to improve the latter’s safety record and to create regional parity between the operators.

Going to Sapporo in September and am trying to determine the best shots to watch trains outside of Sapporo Station of course. Anyone in the group been there? I'm gun I g for as much ground level and at-grades as I can since I don't use zooms anymore to take pix.