JR West "Super Oki" limited express, Shin-Yamaguchi to Tottori

[Sacto1985]

YouTube member Specialrapid miyacolnuzaghi filmed this long zenmen tenbou video of a trip on the JR West Super Oki limited express from Shin-Yamaguchi to Tottori Stations on a KiHa 187 tilting DMU, likely filmed just after the Yamaguchi Line re-opened after devastating rainstorms that damaged the line some time earlier:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neOymOSjOmQ

 

I believe this is longest-distance non-Shinkansen limited express train in Japan right now.

 

 

[miyakoji]

I believe this is longest-distance non-Shinkansen limited express train in Japan right now.

 

Shinano services #9 and #16, once a day from Osaka to Nagano and vice versa, are apparently the longest limited express runs at 441.2km.  After that...

• the Super Soya, Sapporo <-> Wakkanai, is 396.2km
• this Super Oki run is 378.1km
• there are some single-seat trips Miyazaki Airport <-> Kokura, on Nichirin services; these are 345.9km
• Kyoto <-> Shingu on a Kuroshio is a mere 315.8km.

I would like to ride all of these :).  I think a bento every 100km would sustain me.

[Sacto1985]

I don't think people ride the Super Oki from Shin-Yamaguchi all the way to Tottori. If you've coming in from Hakata (Fukuoka), most riders take the Shinkansen and either change trains at Okayama to ride the Yakumo to reach Matsue to Izumo or ride the Super Inaba to reach Tottori.

[Mudkip Orange]

Those long Shinano runs can be beaten by changing Shinkansens in Tokyo, despite several hundred km of additional trip.

 

As an aside, the Kiha 187 has got to be the most UK-looking stock operating in Japan today.

[Sacto1985]

Alas, the original video is no longer on YouTube. However, YouTube member OleOleSaggy just posted a new version of this trip on the Super Oki train from Shin-Yamaguchi to Tottori Stations: