Classic route
Thunderbird
Osaka → Tsuruga · Japan
Thunderbird in pictures
Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 138 km
- Fastest time
- 1 h 20 min
- Average speed
- 104 km/h
- Top speed
- 130 km/h
- Operator
- JR West
- Train
- 683 series
- Countries
- Japan
- In service since
- 1995
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
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.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 1943358 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: 97.8% of this line lies within 250 m of real track (median 4 m); the longest stretch away from it is 3 km
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: JR West — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
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.