West Japan Railway to raise fares for some Sanyo Shinkansen bullet trains in April 2023

OSAKA -- West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) will raise fares for some Sanyo Shinkansen bullet trains on April 1, 2023, to cover the revenue drop due to reduced passenger numbers amid the coronavirus pandemic, it announced on July 13.

Reserved seat express fares, including supplemental charges for higher "green car" class carriages, for the Sanyo Shinkansen Line's Nozomi and Mizuho trains will be raised by between 110 yen (about 80 cents) and 420 yen ($3). The line connects Shin-Osaka Station and Hakata Station in Fukuoka. This will be the first fare hike since the fast Nozomi service was launched in 1993 (except for consumption tax hikes).

The fare will be raised by 110 yen on sections spanning up to some 200 kilometers; by 320 yen (roughly $2.30) on sections up to about 400 kilometers long; and by 420 yen between stations more than 400 kilometers apart.

The combined basic fare and reserved seat surcharge between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations will rise from 15,600 yen (approx. $113) to 16,020 yen ($116) during regular periods. This will also be applied to passengers traveling between Tokyo and Hakata stations via Shin-Osaka.

Fares for non-reserved seats and some shinkansen tickets booked through a paid online membership service will not be affected. Fares for the Hikari, Kodama and Sakura bullet trains on the same shinkansen line will remain the same.

JR West reduced the reserved seat express fare from 6,210 yen to 5,540 yen in 2003, when the company introduced non-reserved seats on Nozomi trains.

(Japanese original by Aya Iguchi, Osaka Business News Department)