Central Japan Railway (JR Central)?and West Japan Railway (JR West)?said Wednesday they will start offering Supreme Class premium private compartments on their 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 per person for a one-way trip between Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka. It is ?41,400 more than the price of a Green Car premium seat.
Single-user compartments will be built in the 10th car, and semiprivate compartments will be rolled out in fiscal 2027, which begins next April.
The compartments will feature reclining seats and lockable doors, and tickets for them can only be purchased online.
The Supreme Class ¡°allows us to provide better services to customers who want high-quality offerings,¡± JR Central President Shunsuke Niwa said at a news conference.
The compartments will be introduced on the 16-car N700S series train sets and on all three service types ¡ª Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama.
JR Central 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 Central said it aims to have Supreme Class compartments available on about 30% of all Tokaido Shinkansen trains by the end of fiscal 2028.
Tokaido Shinkansen trains, run by JR Central, connect Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations, while Sanyo Shinkansen trains, operated by JR West, link Shin-Osaka Station and Hakata Station in the city of Fukuoka.
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