Raichō
Overview | |
---|---|
Service type | Limited express |
First service | 1964 |
Last service | 2011 |
Former operator(s) | JR West |
Route | |
Line(s) used | Tokaido Line (JR Kyoto Line), Kosei Line, Hokuriku Line |
Technical | |
Rolling stock | 485 series |
The Raichō (
The characters
Station stops[edit]
Stations in parentheses were not served by all services.
Ōsaka - Shin-Ōsaka - Kyoto - (Katata: Raicho 8 only) - (Omi-Imazu: Raicho 33 only) - Tsuruga - Takefu - Sabae - Fukui - Awaraonsen - Kagaonsen - Komatsu - - Kanazawa
Rolling stock[edit]
- 485 series EMUs
Formation[edit]
- Green: Green car (first class)
- White: Standard class car
- O: Observation seats
- R: Reserved seats
- NR: Non-reserved seats
- No smoking accommodation
- 6 cars
← Osaka Kanazawa → | |||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
O, R | R | R | R | NR | NR |
- Women-only seats are available in Car 3.
History[edit]
The Raichō service was first introduced on 25 December 1964 as a limited express operating between Osaka and Toyama.[1]
From 11 March 1989, Super Raichō services were introduced, operating between Kobe/Osaka and Toyama/Wakura Onsen.[1]
From the start of the 20 April 1995 timetable revision, new 681 series EMUs were introduced on Osaka to Toyama services, named Super Raichō (Thunderbird).[1] These became simply Thunderbird from March 1997.
JR West introduced a "women-only" section in the reserved-seating cars of Raichō and Thunderbird trains from October 2007 following the rape of a female passenger by a man in a train toilet while travelling on a Thunderbird service in August 2006.[2][3]
The last remaining Raichō service was discontinued from the start of the 12 March 2011 timetable revision, with all trains subsequently using the Thunderbird name.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c
列車 名鑑 1995 [Train Name Directory 1995]. Japan: Railway Journal. August 1995. - ^ "Train rapist took advantage of passengers' apathy, fear in night of terror" Japan Today 2 May 2007
- ^ "'SOS' stickers going up in every JR East car" The Japan Times, 24 May 2007
- ^ "
特急 「雷鳥 」、来年 3月 で引退 =「サンダーバード」に統一 ―JR西 " ["Raichō" Limited express to be retired next March and standardized with "Thunderbird" - JR West] (in Japanese). Yahoo Japan Corporation. 17 December 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.