"Shin-kaisoku" service with 223 Series EMU, Banshū-Akō to Tsuruga

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member (and JNS Forum regular!) ayokoi posted early this year probably the best zenmen tenbou video of a complete trip of a Shin-kaisoku (Special Rapid) service with a JR West 223 Series EMU from Banshū-Akō Station all the way east to Tsuruga Station, separated into multiple parts for easier-to-digest viewing:

 

Banshū-Akō to Himeji (Akō Line and San'yō Main Line):

 

 

Himeji to Kobe (San'yō Main Line):

 

 

Kobe to Osaka (Tokaidō Main Line)

 

 

Osaka to Kyoto (Tokaidō Main Line)

 

 

Kyoto to Ōmi-Imazu (Tokaidō Main Line and Kosei Line):

 

 

Ōmi-Imazu to Tsuruga (Kosei Line and Hokuriku Main Line)

 

 

The nice thing about these videos is not only the captions in both Japanese and English of the various stations along the way, but also captions in Japanese and English for the various important bridges and tunnels along the way, too. Note that up until 2006, all Special Rapid trains had their eastern terminus at Ōmi-Imazu, though changes in the makeup of trainsets at that time (a special four-car 223 or 225 trainsets that coupled with longer 223 or 225 trainsets at Ōmi-Imazu) allowed the Special Rapid service to go all the way to Tsuruga.

 

[JR 500系]

Excellent video!

 

I didn't know the Shin-Kaisoku actually goes such a far distance... All the way from Banshū-Akō to Tsuruga...

 

The person who took the video actually walked over to the front car from the 2nd car to continue taking the front view video, since at Himeji the rear car in which he was in is coupled with another car in the front...

[Guest keio6000]

very nice video - thank you ayokoi. 

 

as a side note though i much much prefer a single video rather than having it 'pre chopped' for me.

[tossedman]

It's hard to upload a three hour plus youtube video though. Takes forever.

[Sacto1985]

It's hard to upload a three hour plus youtube video though. Takes forever.

 

Well, it could be done in Japan, where (at least in the major metropolitan areas) near gigabit-speed Internet access is common, with upload speeds measured in the hundreds of megabits per second.  :)

 

But I do like ayokoi splitting up the trip into multiple videos, since it's a lot easier to watch an under-30 minute video than to watch a 3.5 hour single video.

[Ronny]

Nice job, well done ayokoi

[railsquid]

For me, it still takes a couple of minutes to upload a video a couple of minutes long, despite the optic fibre cable coming in through the wall...

 

Not that I'm complaining, when I was a student, copying many-times copied tapes was the only way of getting hold of any Japan-related media.

[Sacto1985]

By the way, ayokoi also did a two-part zenmen tenbou video of the trip from Tsuruga back to Kyoto:

 

Tsuruga to Ōmi-Imazu (Hokuriku Main Line and Kosei Line):

 

 

Ōmi-Imazu to Kyoto (Kosei Line and Tokaidō Main Line):

 

 

Note that on the run between Kyoto and Ōmi-Imazu Station, you would occasionally see green-painted 113 Series EMU's on all-stops service. As a bonus, here is a zenmen tenbou video done by YouTube member Ai. m going from Kyoto to Ōmi-Maiko (note how much slower the 113 trainsets are compared to the zippy 223's):