Private rooms to be back on Tokyo-Hakata shinkansen bullet trains from October

TOKYO – Private rooms will be offered on bullet trains linking Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka from Oct 1, making a

comeback to the Tokaido Shinkansen Line

for the first time in more than two decades, its operator’s president said.

The dedicated rooms will enable passengers to “secure privacy and travel in a refined setting”, Central Japan Railway president Shunsuke Niwa said in a group interview including Kyodo News in December, with demand expected from business leaders and other travellers.

Mr Niwa, 60, said ticket prices will be more expensive than the existing Green Car premium seats, but did not elaborate.

Starting Oct 1, some N700S trains will be equipped with two private rooms, each accommodating one or two passengers, and will run between Tokyo and Hakata in Fukuoka.

The operator, commonly known as JR Central, also plans to add semi-private rooms to the service in the business year ending March 2028.

Tokaido shinkansen trains used to offer private rooms, but they were removed in 2003 after the 100-series cars were retired.

Regarding the planned high-speed maglev train line between Tokyo and Nagoya, Mr Niwa said the company is seeking to “make solid progress, with a particular focus on the safety of construction work”.

He reiterated that the start of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen project remains unclear because the launch date for construction in Shizuoka prefecture – through which the line is set to travel – is uncertain. KYODO NEWS