Classic route
Hokuto
Sapporo → Hakodate · Japan
Hokuto in pictures
Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 319 km
- Fastest time
- 3 h 40 min
- Average speed
- 87 km/h
- Top speed
- 120 km/h
- Operator
- JR Hokkaido
- Train
- KiHa 261-1000
- Countries
- Japan
- In service since
- 1994
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
Diesel tilting express curving 319 km around Uchiura Bay past the volcanoes Usu and Komagatake, linking Sapporo with old Hakodate.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 3406000 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 5 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: JR Hokkaido — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
How long is the Hokuto?
The Hokuto runs 319 km from Sapporo to Hakodate.
How long does the Hokuto take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 3 h 40 min for the 319 km. That is an average of 87 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 120 km/h.
Who runs the Hokuto?
JR Hokkaido, with KiHa 261-1000.
How old is the Hokuto?
The line has been in service since 1994. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
View on the world railway map →More classic routes
- LNER Azuma
The Flying Scotsman’s route since 1862: and where Mallard set the never-beaten steam record of 203 km/h in 1938.
Wikipedia ↗ - Alfa Pendular
A tilting Pendolino leaning through the curves of the 19th-century Linha do Norte between Portugal’s two great cities.
Wikipedia ↗ - EIP Pendolino
Rides Poland’s 1970s Central Main Line (CMK), engineered decades ahead of its time and now being upgraded to 250 km/h.
Wikipedia ↗ - Railjet
Follows the old Orient Express alignment down the Danube plain: centre to centre faster than any flight.
Wikipedia ↗
More train routes in Japan.