🇯🇵 Operator
Train routes operated by JR West
12 routes · high-speed 1 · classic 3 · scenic 5 · heritage 1 · luxury 2
JR West runs 12 of the routes in the World Train Map atlas, 2,563 km of railway across 1 country. The longest is the Twilight Express Mizukaze at 720 km; the fastest is the Sanyo Shinkansen, running up to 300 km/h; the oldest line it runs over here opened in 1925.
The company itself dates to 1987, filed on Wikidata as a rail company (Japan). What this page says about the company comes from JR West'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 Q502125 ↗
Open the world railway map →- Routes here
- 12
- Total length
- 2,563 km
- Countries
- Japan
- Fastest
- Sanyo Shinkansen · 300 km/h
- Oldest line here
- 1925
- Company founded
- 1987
- Type
- rail company (Japan)
- Longest
- Twilight Express Mizukaze · 720 km
High-speed (1)
- Sanyo Shinkansen
The Inland Sea corridor past Himeji Castle and Hiroshima, and the home turf of the needle-nosed 500 Series.
Wikipedia ↗
Classic (3)
- Yakumo
JR West’s new 2024 tilting 273 series takes the Hakubi line’s passes to Izumo, home of Japan’s oldest grand shrine.
Wikipedia ↗ - Thunderbird
Since the 2024 bullet-train extension it sprints from Osaka up the wild western shore of Lake Biwa to Tsuruga, Hokuriku’s new shinkansen gateway.
Wikipedia ↗ - Haruka
Kansai Airport’s purple-and-white express, covering 99 km from Kyoto’s temples out across the bay to the man-made island runway.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (5)
- Limited Express Kuroshio
Around the Kii Peninsula with the Pacific at the window: Shirahama’s sands, Honshu’s southernmost cape and the Kumano pilgrim coast.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ametsuchi
Lapis-blue Ametsuchi — “heaven and earth” from the Kojiki’s opening line — roams the San’in coast’s breakers past Mt Daisen and Lake Shinji from Tottori to Izumo.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - etSETOra
etSETOra drifts the Kure Line’s island-studded Seto shore with Hiroshima patissiers’ sweets courses and a sake bar — extended in 2025 to run clear through to Fukuyama.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Marumaru no Hanashi
A KiHa 47 dawdling along the San’in coast between Shimonoseki and Hagi, timed so the Sea of Japan fills the windows — back running after 2025’s storm damage.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Belles montagnes et mer
“Beautiful mountains and sea”: an emerald art-gallery railcar where a sushi chef works the counter as Amaharashi bay frames 3,000-metre Tateyama across the water.
Wikipedia ↗
Heritage (1)
- SL Yamaguchi
A pacific steam locomotive has hauled this special up the Yamaguchi line to the little castle town of Tsuwano, the “Kyoto of San-in”, since 1979.
Wikipedia ↗
Luxury (2)
- Twilight Express Mizukaze
Heir to the beloved Twilight Express: emerald art-deco suites and open observation decks drifting along the San’in coast’s empty beaches.
Wikipedia ↗ - Hanayome Noren
A rolling Kaga bridal curtain: vermilion-and-black cars finished in Wajima-lacquer motifs and gold leaf, serving Ishikawa sweets en route to Wakura Onsen’s seaside baths.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — each route page credits the author & licence
How many train routes does JR West run?
12 of the routes in this atlas are JR West services, covering 2,563 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 West train?
The Sanyo Shinkansen, Osaka to Fukuoka, at up to 300 km/h. Its fastest scheduled run takes 2 h 21 min over 553 km.
Does JR West run night trains?
Not in this atlas. All 12 JR West routes listed here are daytime services.
When was JR West 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 1925 — the line and the company are rarely the same age, and this page dates both.
Countries JR West runs in
- 🇯🇵 Train routes in Japan 78 routes
Other operators in Japan
- JR East 15 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