🇯🇵 Operator
Train routes operated by JR East
15 routes · high-speed 3 · classic 3 · scenic 5 · heritage 2 · luxury 2
JR East runs 15 of the routes in the World Train Map atlas, 4,332 km of railway across 1 country. The longest is the Train Suite Shiki-shima at 1,522 km; the fastest is the Akita Shinkansen, running up to 320 km/h; the oldest line it runs over here opened in 1966.
The company itself dates to 1987, filed on Wikidata as a rail company (Japan). What this page says about the company comes from JR East's own Wikidata item, checked against the countries its routes here actually cross before any of it is used; everything about the railway is counted from this atlas. Official site ↗ · Wikipedia ↗ · Wikidata Q499071 ↗
Open the world railway map →- Routes here
- 15
- Total length
- 4,332 km
- Countries
- Japan
- Fastest
- Akita Shinkansen · 320 km/h
- Oldest line here
- 1966
- Company founded
- 1987
- Type
- rail company (Japan)
- Longest
- Train Suite Shiki-shima · 1,522 km
High-speed (3)
- Akita Shinkansen
Crimson “Komachi” units ride the Hayabusa at 320 km/h to Morioka, then swap to single-track mountain rails past Lake Tazawa: a bullet train on a branch-line stage.
Wikipedia ↗ - Yamagata Shinkansen
Japan’s first mini-shinkansen: beyond Fukushima the “Tsubasa” runs re-gauged valley rails below Zao’s slopes into cherry and soba country.
Wikipedia ↗ - Joetsu Shinkansen
Dives under the Tanigawa range into Kawabata’s snow country. Tokyo to metres-deep Echigo-Yuzawa powder and Niigata’s sake coast in under ninety minutes.
Wikipedia ↗
Classic (3)
- Limited Express Azusa
The alpinists’ express. E353s bank through Katsunuma’s vineyards and the Suwa lake basin to Matsumoto’s black castle, gateway to the Japan Alps.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kaiji
Chuo Line express using the E353’s active tilt to swing through the mountain-walled Katsura valleys up to the vineyard capital of Kofu.
Wikipedia ↗ - Narita Express
Twin sets from Yokohama and Shinjuku couple at Tokyo Station, then run as one red-and-black E259 through the Sobu tunnels out to Narita Airport.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (5)
- Resort Shirakami
A rapid that idles on purpose: shamisen players aboard, the Sea of Japan breaking at Senjojiki, and UNESCO’s Shirakami beech forests behind the dunes.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kairi
Kairi means “sea and village”: a hybrid diner serving Niigata and Shonai delicacies while threading the Sasagawa-nagare, 11 km of wave-gnawed rocks on the Uetsu coast.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Tadami Line
Reopened in 2022 after 11 years of flood repairs; drifts over the mist-wreathed Tadami River bridges through Japan’s deepest snow country.
Wikipedia ↗ - Koshino Shu*Kura
A sake brewery on wheels — Niigata tasting bar, live jazz, a long pause on the sea cliff at Aoumigawa — winding via Nagaoka into snow-country Tokamachi.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - HIGH RAIL 1375
Grinds to 1,375 m at JR’s highest rail point below Yatsugatake — observatory seats by day, a stargazing dome and astronomer-guided night runs under the Milky Way.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗
Heritage (2)
- SL Banetsu Monogatari
C57 180 — “the Lady” — hauls seven retro coaches up the Agano river gorge from Niitsu to castle-town Aizu-Wakamatsu, one of Japan’s last full-size mainline steam runs.
Wikipedia ↗ - SL Gunma
Restored D51 498 “Degoichi” and C61 20 haul retro coaches up the Joetsu Line on weekends: steam echoing off the Tone gorge under Tanigawa’s wall.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗
Luxury (2)
- Train Suite Shiki-shima
JR East’s champagne-gold cruise train: four days from Ueno through Tōhoku and under the Seikan Tunnel to Hokkaido, in suites with cypress baths — Japan’s hardest train ticket.
Wikipedia ↗ - TOHOKU EMOTION
A restaurant on rails — open kitchen car, chef’s courses at every seat — rolling the Sanriku surf from Hachinohe to Kuji along the Tanesashi coast.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — each route page credits the author & licence
How many train routes does JR East run?
15 of the routes in this atlas are JR East services, covering 4,332 km across 1 country (Japan). That is what this atlas draws, not the operator's whole network — a national railway runs thousands of local services no map of notable journeys would list.
What is the fastest JR East train?
The Akita Shinkansen, Tokyo to Akita, at up to 320 km/h. Its fastest scheduled run takes 3 h 37 min over 663 km.
Does JR East run night trains?
Not in this atlas. All 15 JR East routes listed here are daytime services.
When was JR East founded?
Wikidata records the company's inception as 1987, and files it as a rail company (Japan). The oldest railway it runs over in this atlas opened in 1966 — the line and the company are rarely the same age, and this page dates both.
Countries JR East runs in
- 🇯🇵 Train routes in Japan 78 routes
Other operators in Japan
- JR West 12 routes
- JR Kyushu 9 routes
- JR Hokkaido 4 routes
- JR Shikoku 4 routes
- Kintetsu Railway 4 routes
- JR Central 3 routes
- Nankai Electric Railway 2 routes