Explore Japan's Railways

Explore Japan’s Railways…

Japan’s Railways are a Rail Fan’s Paradise. Japan’s Rail Fans are famous for being interested in various aspects of the railways here. International Rail Enthusiasts will be even more intrigued by the various aspects of Japan’s railways, new and old, and not least by how efficiently they operate.

The world's first and one of the busiest high speed railway network -

“The Bullet Train”…

The Tokaido Shinkansen, which opened in 1964 was the world’s first dedicated high speed rail line. Since then Japan has developed the bullet train (known locally as the shinkansen) so it now has 10 lines, with the fastest operational speed of 320km/h (Tohoku Shinkansen). The Tokaido Shinkansen has trains departing Tokyo every 5~10 minutes at peak times making it one of the busiest rail lines in the world.

Intensive urban networks carrying millions of passengers daily…

With headways of only a few minutes at peak times the urban rail networks in cities like Tokyo and Osaka are also a testament to Japanese technology and organisation ensuring that millions of people everyday get to work, school and leisure destinations on time and safely. The most famous of these lines is the circular Yamanote Line in Tokyo, but there are many more.

Limited Express trains connect cities and towns around Japan…

Tourist Trains for sightseeing and cultural experiences…

The rail companies in Japan operate around 100 limited express trains connecting towns and cities across Japan. There are also numerous dedicated tourist trains and themed trains.

For rail enthusiasts these also provide a variety of different types of trains, old and new

Local lines

The Japan rail network has many local & regional lines, which again are operated by a variety of different types of trains, including both state-of-the-art models and to somewhat older ones. Many of these lines also have interesting features (for example switchbacks) and interesting stations.

Japan also has city trams, the most recent one opening in August 2023, but most operating a mixture of modern and older trams.

Trams & Steam…

Although there are no heritage lines in the same way as other countries, Japan does have a number of railways that operate steam locomotive hauled trains, usually on weekends and holidays. Some of these railways, like the Oigawa Railway in Shizuoka Prefecture operate a variety of old rolling stock on their normal services.

And there is freight as well…

For fans of locomotives, then it is probably freight services that you want to be looking out for. Japan is may be the only country that publishes and sells the freight timetable…a popular book with Japanese rail fans!

Museums…

Japan has many railway museums, including three large and impressive ones that you can spend many hours in (Omiya Railway Museum (JR East) Kyoto Railway Museum (JR West) & SCMAGLEV and Railway Park, Nagoya (JR Tokai).

Japan a "Rail Fans Paradise"

TS Japan Rail, are the Japan Rail Experts,

who can help you explore the very modern,

not so modern to the vintage of Japan’s Railways.