Tokaido, Sanyo Shinkansen Trains to Have Private Compartments

Tokyo, June 18 (Jiji Press)–Central Japan Railway Co., or JR Tokai, and West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, said Wednesday that they will start offering Supreme Class premium private compartments on their Shinkansen bullet trains on Oct. 1. A private compartment for two passengers, to be built in the seventh car of the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen train sets, will cost 60,790 yen per person for a one-way trip between Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka, a city in western Japan. This is 41,400 yen higher than the price of a Green Car premium seat. Single-user compartments will be built in the 10th car, and semi-private compartments will be rolled out in fiscal 2027, which begins next April. The compartments will feature reclining seats and lockable doors, and can only be purchased online. The Supreme Class “allows us to provide better services to customers who want high-quality offerings,” JR Tokai President Shunsuke Niwa said at a press conference. The compartments will be introduced on the 16-car N700S series train sets and on all three service types–Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama. JR Tokai and JR West are preparing to operate around 12 trains with the compartments, including both eastbound and westbound services, per day in October. They plan to expand the offerings to around 30 trains per day by the end of fiscal 2026. JR Tokai said it aims to have Supreme Class compartments available on about 30 pct of all Tokaido Shinkansen trains by the end of fiscal 2028. Tokaido Shinkansen trains, run by JR Tokai, connect Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations, while Sanyo Shinkansen trains, operated by JR West, link Shin-Osaka Station and Hakata Station in Fukuoka, a city in southwestern Japan. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]