Is it possible for foreigners to book chartered trains?

[JR 500系]

 

 

As the topic suggests... Not only can we ride these super rare trains like the 485 Hana (video above) or Zipangu, or even the other saloon or carpet trains... is it possible for us to book a ride on these trains? 

 

Love that badge they made for this chartered ride! 

[bikkuri bahn]

I don't quite understand your question.  As long as you are a member of the organization booking that particular train (say, for example, as an employee of a company going on an outing/retreat, or a group of hiking/camping enthusiasts) you can ride. Any organization/group can book a train by going through a JR reservation agency or a travel agency.  

[JR 500系]

Aahhh I see thanks ~ It probably means foreign tourist like us which are not part of any organisation that is booking that train would probably not be able to ride it...  I was thinking if we can just walk into any JR Midori-no-madaguchi to book a chartered train for a ride... 

[cteno4]

JNS forum train!

 

jeff

[bikkuri bahn]

Quote

I was thinking if we can just walk into any JR Midori-no-madaguchi to book a chartered train for a ride... 

Well, I suppose you could, whether you could afford the fee is an issue however, unless you are a group of at least 40 people.

[kvp]

1 hour ago, bikkuri bahn said:

Well, I suppose you could, whether you could afford the fee is an issue however, unless you are a group of at least 40 people.

Chartered trains are like rented cars. Anyone with the right amount of money can rent a whole train for a ride and even choose from the available route options. You can even rent a whole passenger plane this way, but usually only travel agencies and larger companies do it. (and in the past schools for school trips, JNR even had dedicated trains for them)

 

A better approach might be finding travel agencies who regularly organize charter tours and trying to find any unsold places. This means instead of doing the whole tour with the group, only joining for the train trip part. Many travel agencies sell their unsold but booked hotel rooms and charter train/plane/bus seats to people who would like a bargain, but don't want to actually book the whole group trip. Finding these is kind of hard though.

[JR 500系]

4 hours ago, cteno4 said:

JNS forum train!

 

jeff

 

That would be seriously fun wouldn't it?  🙂

 

3 hours ago, bikkuri bahn said:

Well, I suppose you could, whether you could afford the fee is an issue however, unless you are a group of at least 40 people.

 

hhmm… I would seriously consider using that amount of money to buy a whole container of N scale trains instead maybe haha 

 

1 hour ago, kvp said:

Chartered trains are like rented cars. Anyone with the right amount of money can rent a whole train for a ride and even choose from the available route options. You can even rent a whole passenger plane this way, but usually only travel agencies and larger companies do it. (and in the past schools for school trips, JNR even had dedicated trains for them)

 

A better approach might be finding travel agencies who regularly organize charter tours and trying to find any unsold places. This means instead of doing the whole tour with the group, only joining for the train trip part. Many travel agencies sell their unsold but booked hotel rooms and charter train/plane/bus seats to people who would like a bargain, but don't want to actually book the whole group trip. Finding these is kind of hard though.

 

That would be interesting, but judging that many of us don't speak fluent Japanese it might also be an issue to go around asking for it... I do see tickets for them turning up on Yahoo Auctions once in a while, not cheap though...