It's never too early to plan!

[katoftw]

Hey I forget when you are actually travelling. But check the Kyushu website as some of the Yufuin no Moris were being switched for regular services, guessing major overhaul time?

 

edit// found - http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/pdf/150202_timetable.pdf

Edited February 18, 2015 by katoftw

[JR 500系]

Thanks katoftw! Always the Kyushu expert!

 

I was going to post the time table until you beat me to it! Seems like my Yufuin No Mori 3 scheduled on 22nd April is affected by the scheduled maintenance... But I can change the Yufuin no Mori to Yufuin No Mori 1 on the same day, correct? It only states that the Yufuin No Mori 3 is affected from 20-24th April, but not the Yufuin No Mori 1 right? Just wanna be sure I understood correctly...

 

Also, very fortunate my SL Hitoyoshi scheduled on the 20th April is running.... Luckily! Now to secure those tickets...  A question, I understood you secured these tickets before you took your JR Pass, any idea how much they cost per person?

 

Thanks!  

[katoftw]

There is 3 return services per day. Yufuin 1 to Yufuin, Yufuin 2 return to Hakata. So forth 3, 4, 5 and 6. Odds to Yufuin/Beppu, evens to Hakata.

 

"In the above period, [Yufuin no Mori] replaced by [Yufu], so no 1, 2, 5 and 6 on the 20th-24th. That is the way I read it.

 

SL hitoyoshi was 820 yen to reserve for adults, 410 yen for children.

Edited February 18, 2015 by katoftw

[JR 500系]

Thanks! So you only paid the reservation fees? How about the ticket itself?

 

So am I right to say that the Yufuin 3 which I target to travel on the 22nd April, so not affected by the change of train set? I really want to ride on the Yufuin No Mori and not the Yufu definitely...

[Kitayama]

SL Hitoyoshi is fully covered by the Japan Rail Pass when you reserve the tickets with the pass. I don't know the rules for booking before you've got the pass.

[katoftw]

Thanks! So you only paid the reservation fees? How about the ticket itself?...

SL Hitoyoshi is covered by a JR Pass. But you either need to pay or have a pass when booking. Since you don't have a pass when attempting to book a month in advance, you need to pay the reservation fee. Then ticket will be covered by the JR pass in your possession on the day of travel. But it is a small price to pay to make sure you secure your seats.

 

I reserved 2 adult and 2 child seats when I booked mine. But we only had 2 adult and 1 child rail passes. They didn't bother with the last child's ticket fee. It would have been 830 yen and I would have paid it no problems, it just never came up in conversation to pay.

 

Funny useless fun fact about the SL Hitoyoshi - all the same female attendents were on the train that were on the Train Cruise Ep1. I was always thinking to myself, "I've seen you before." haha

 

So am I right to say that the Yufuin 3 which I target to travel on the 22nd April, so not affected by the change of train set? I really want to ride on the Yufuin No Mori and not the Yufu definitely...

Yeah Yufuin 3 and 4 to and from Beppu is still running between the 20th-24th April 2015.

[katoftw]

Updated (and completed) Kyushu timetable:- http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/pdf/150224_timetable.pdf

[JR 500系]

Updated (and completed) Kyushu timetable:- http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/pdf/150224_timetable.pdf

 

Thanks katoftw!

 

I'm updating the final plan as we speak, which is more or less confirmed. I'm still trying hard to get on a 787 though... Just couldn't find a linking train...

 

I did managed to squeeze in all the trains I'll like to take without making the whole trip TOO 'trainy' for the Mrs...  

 

List of trains we will get on:

 

JR East

Shinkansens:

E4 - Tokyo to Gala Yuzawa & back

E5 - Nasuno 280 from Oyama to Tokyo

E6 - Komachi 28 from Omiya to Tokyo

E7 - Hakutaka 561 from Tokyo to Takasaki

 

Limited Express:

E259 NEX 43 from Ofuna to Yokohama

E233-3000 or E231-1000 Shonan-Shinjuku Line from Ebisu to Kamakura  

Ryomo Line - Unknown train set

 

Commuter:

Number of E231 from Sobu Line

E233-6000 Yokahama Line from Yokohama to Shin-Yokohama

of course then there is the E231-500 Yamanote oh so often

 

Pte Railways:

Odakyu Romance Car 50000 VSE

Hakone Tozan Line

Toei subway Oedo Line Ochiai-Minami-Nagasaki (love saying this), Tokyo Metro Hanzommon Line, Yurikamome

 

JR Central

Shinkansens:

N700 series Hikari 468/ Hikari 511

700 series Hikari 462/ Kodama 674

 

Limited Express:

383 series Wide View Shinano Nagoya to Matsumoto

 

Commuter Trains:

JR Sagano Line - Unknown train set

 

JR West

Shinkansens:

500 series - Kodama 741/ Kodama 733  

700-7000 RailStar - Kodama 739 / Kodama 762

 

Limited Express:

681/ 683 series - Thunderbird 42 / 46 Toyama to Shin-Osaka

 

JR Kyushu

Shinkansens:

N700-8000 series - Sakura 544 / Samura 553 / Sakura 569 / Sakura 458

800 series - Tsubame 313 Hakata to Kumamoto

 

Limited Express / Joyful Trains:

Isaburo Shinpei 3 - Hitoyoshi to Yoshimatsu

Hayato-No-Kaze 3 - Yoshimatsu to Kagoshima-Chuo

885 Series - Kamome 7 Hakata to Isahaya

Ltd Express Midori 32 - Haiki to Hakata

Kiha 71/72 - Yufuin No Mori 3 Hakata to Beppu

883 Series - Blue Sonic 60 Beppu to Hakata

 

Commuter trains:

Seaside Liner

 

And FIRST Steam Locomotive experience, SL 8620 Hitoyoshi!

 

Hopping to squeeze more if time permits... Will be posting the actual plan with hotel plan soon once ready. 42 more days to go!  :)

Edited February 25, 2015 by JR500 のぞみ

[katoftw]

Sagano Line is in JRW region. :confused1:

Edited February 25, 2015 by katoftw

[JR 500系]

Sagano Line is in JRW region. :confused1:

 

Actually it's still in the JR Central region. The JR West starts with Shinkansens (in bold)  :)

[Kitayama]

As katoftw states, the Sagano Line is run by JR West.

You will NOT be able to run the Thunderbird from Toyama. You have to use Shinkansen from Toyama to Kanazawa, and then Thunderbird to Osaka.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Kitayama

[Kitayama]

Your options instead of the old Thunderbird 42/46 from Toyama to shin-Osaka:

 

Toyama 1805 - Kanazawa 1828/1842 - Shin-Osaka 2117. Tsurugi 725 (E7 or W7) and Thunderbird 42

Toyama 1911 - Kanazawa 1933/1943 - Shin-Osaka 2225. Tsurugi 727 and Thunderbird 44.

Toyama 2002 - Kanazawa 2025/2035 - Shin-Osaka 2307. Tsurugi 729 and Thunderbird 46.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Kitayama

[JR 500系]

Thank you for your input kitayama san!

 

I would just like to ask whether if the Thunderbird is no longer running from Toyama to Osaka? I checked Hyperdia again today, keying in the exact dates which I will take, and it still came out a the option below:

 

 

Of course I wouldn't mind taking an E7 anytime, but a direct train is definitely good, especially after a long day of walking through the Tateyama route Alps...

[Kitayama]

Please note that Hyperdia has NOT updated their data with the March 14 changes yet. The opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen will cause a lot of changes. The old line between Toyama and Kanazawa will be transferred from JR West to two local railway companies.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Kitayama

[Kitayama]

For JR West use their own search engine: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/travel-information/timetable/

It is updated.

[JR 500系]

For JR West use their own search engine: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/travel-information/timetable/

It is updated.

 

Indeed! Thank you Kitayama san!

 

I tried it out, keying in the exact dates and indeed it requested me to take the routes you suggested!

 

Or a Later one, if the Tateyama route is delayed...

 

 

Thanks! If not I would have been faulted when I tried to reserve seats at the JR West office.... :P

 

Also, it seems to take a much shorter time, from the direct Thunderbird taking almost 4 hours to using transfer at Knazawa to around 3 hours!

Edited February 26, 2015 by JR500 のぞみ

[Kitayama]

You must have misread the timetable. A Thunderbird uses 3h10-3h20 currently. You will save six minutes with the new connection (for Thunderbird 40 you will actually loose two minutes.)

[Densha]

So they force you to have an extra transfer and pay more for the Shinkansen, but at the same time it takes approximately the same amount of time? That does not sound very fair.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Densha

[Kitayama]

So they force you to have an extra transfer and pay more for the Shinkansen, but at the same time it takes approximately the same amount of time? That does not sound very fair.

That is true for journeys between Toyama prefecture and Kansai area. However, Toyama prefecture will get a much a faster trip to Kanto area. 

[Densha]

I sort of understand why they abolished the Thunderbird between Kanazawa and Shin-Osaka (they need to earn back the construction costs of the Hokuriku Shinkansen obviously), but for passengers it would have been better if they would have kept running the limited expresses alongside the Shinkansen until the Shinkansen is extended to the Kansai area to avoid extra transfers.

 

As for Toyama - Kanto, yes shorter but probably much more expensive. Yes, I'm a cliché greedy Dutchman.

I wonder if Japanese do not care about paying more for a faster trip? When they replaced a Dutch limited express-equivalent with a high speed train a few years back, everyone started using the local trains that got extremely crowded to the point where they eventually returned the traditional express. :P

[westfalen]

In New South Wales they had to drop the extra fare that was applied to the XPT (clone of British HST) when it first started service after passengers complained that on routes where they ran there was usually no longer any other services to use as an alternative.  I guess Japanese people might not be as vocal about getting ripped off.

 

I also wouldn't mind guessing the local trains on the route become more crowded as the local population that used limited expresses for shorter journeys migrate to them at the same time as the new private companies operating them shorten consists to help cover costs that are no longer partly absorbed by the rest of JR East/West.

 

While I'm looking forward to being able to do a day trip from Tokyo to Toyama/Kanazawa to ride the Kurobe Gorge or local lines in the area IMHO there is a downside to new Shinkansen lines these days when you look past the glitz and glamour.  They seem hell bent to get rid of more of the old railway these days than they used to in the Tokaido/Sanyo and Tohoku days.

Edited February 27, 2015 by westfalen

[bikkuri bahn]

As for Toyama - Kanto, yes shorter but probably much more expensive. Yes, I'm a cliché greedy Dutchman.

I wonder if Japanese do not care about paying more for a faster trip?

 

I reckon there wasn't much traffic in the first place between those two points- the direct limited expresses are long history, and I rode the last night train a few years back, it was a victim of changing customer preferences- most had shifted to night buses.  The journey becomes a one seat ride now from Tokyo Station to Toyama and Kanazawa- a considerable improvement over the transfers required up to now, and a shortening in travel time over the old direct limited expresses that used the Shin-Etsu Line. Most will gladly pay more for the savings in time.

Edited February 27, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[katoftw]

It will eat into a far bit of JR Centrals market share I think.  There isn't alot on the Tokaido Line between Atami and Kyoto toursim wise.  but it has always been the quickest route between to major populated areas.

 

But the Hokuriku Line has Nagano, Toyama, Kanazawa etc.  If traveller are willing to go the longer way around but have more sights to visit, the may just opt for the Hokuriku Line instead.  JRE and JRW will pocket the money gladly.

[JR 500系]

More updates:

 

Since it's pass the day Hokuriku Shinkansen or rather March 14 where timetables change, I made checks to ensure everything is in order on Hyperdia. Here's the final planning in sequence, including all routing and hotels.

 

Approximately 21 more days to go! 3 weeks!  :)

 

Question, whats the difference between DX Green and Green for JR Kyushu? I saw DX Green on JR Kyushu's website, but I couldn't find further information anywhere. I'm afraid my Kamome 101, the one which I intentionally take to ride on the famed 787 series Green car, will be a DX Green. Is there a way to figure this out? Thanks in advance!

 

[westfalen]

Well planned, you should be a travel agent.

 

Re the arrival/departure tracks at Shin-Kobe on the first day, there are only two platforms, one for each direction, so you will arrive and depart from the same platform.  It is a handy place to change if the connection is tight.