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.

This was Kakuei Tanaka’s monument: the Niigata powerbroker turned prime minister who willed a bullet line home across the mountains, opened in 1982. Its 22 km Daishimizu Tunnel ranked as the world’s longest rail bore on completion, and in winter the route doubles as Japan’s fastest ski shuttle, one station opening directly into the Gala Yuzawa pistes. The Toki name honours the crested ibis, nursed back from near-extinction on Sado Island off Niigata.

Stations

1. 0 kmTokyo
2. 31 kmOmiya
3. 183 kmEchigo-Yuzawa
4. 212 kmUrasa
5. 245 kmNagaoka
6. 269 kmTsubamesanjō
7. 301 kmNiigata

The stations OpenStreetMap lists for this service, in order, with the distance along the line as drawn here. A train may skip some of them.

Along the way

• Jōmō-Kōgen for hot-spring country
• Daishimizu Tunnel — 22 km
• Echigo-Yuzawa and Gala Yuzawa pistes
• Uonuma rice paddies
• Bandai Bridge, Niigata

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 1949288 — 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 3 m from it
• The operator publishes this line's timetable: JR East — 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

Questions and answers

How long is the Joetsu Shinkansen?

The Joetsu Shinkansen runs 300 km from Tokyo to Niigata.

How long does the Joetsu Shinkansen take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 1 h 29 min for the 300 km. That is an average of 202 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 275 km/h.

Who runs the Joetsu Shinkansen?

JR East, with E7 “Toki”.

How old is the Joetsu Shinkansen?

The line has been in service since 1982. 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.

How often does the Joetsu Shinkansen run?

1–2× hourly.

View on the world railway map →

Read more on Wikipedia ↗