Tokaido Shinkansen, the first high-speed rail in Japan opened in 1964. It was extended to Okayama in 1972 as San-yo Shinkansen opened, and further to Hakata in 1975. Thus, the 1973 timetable contains service patterns that lasted just three years. This article describes how bullet trains between Tokyo and Okayama have changed in the last 50 years. Timetables in this article show regular services at off-peak times (daytime) unless specifically noted.
Shinkansen train layouts
There was only one Shinkansen rolling stock in 1973: 0 series. The 0 series was still being mass-produced amid the surge in demand. Trains were formed of 12 or 16 coaches, but there was no dining car at that time. Instead, there were buffet cars. Three types of trainsets as shown below were in use.
"B" means a buffet, "G means Green Cars (first class, reservation mandatory), "N" means non-reserved standard-class, and "R" means reserved standard-class.
| Coach | Hikari | Kodama |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | N | N |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 | ||
| 5 | R+B | N+B |
| 6 | R | N |
| 7 | ||
| 8 | ||
| 9 | G | |
| 10 | ||
| 11 | R+B | |
| 12 | R | G |
| 13 | R+B | |
| 14 | R | |
| 15 | ||
| 16 |
Some Kodama services formed of twelve coaches did not have nos. 1-4 (i.e. the front coach was no. 5).
Today, Tokaido and San-yo Shinkansen services are mostly provided by N700A series or N700S series. There are also eight-car San-yo Shinkansen services, but this article only focuses on 16-car trains that run to and from Tokyo.
| Coach | Nozomi | Hikari | Kodama |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N | N | N |
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 | R | ||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | R | ||
| 7 | R | ||
| 8 | G | G | G |
| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | R | R | R |
| 12 | |||
| 13 | N | ||
| 14 | |||
| 15 | |||
| 16 |
Today, there is no specific train unit exclusively for Nozomi, Hikari or Kodama, but all of them are allocated equally to all three types of services. As trains are faster (i.e. duration is shorter) than it used to in 1973, there is no buffet or dining car.
Shinkansen schedules (1973)
Nine years had already passed since Shinkansen opened, and service patterns in 1973 were not as simple as they were in 1964. There were five patterns as listed below. Alphabets are added for convenience.
| Calling at | ||
|---|---|---|
| A | Hikari (Tokyo – Shin-Osaka or Okayama) | Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka & Okayama |
| B | Hikari (Tokyo - Okayama) | Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, Himeji & Okayama |
| C | Hikari (Tokyo - Okayama) | Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka & all stations to Okayama |
| D | Hikari (Tokyo – Shin-Osaka) | Nagoya, Maibara, Kyoto & Shin-Osaka |
| Kodama | All stations | |
Hikari departed Tokyo station every hour on the hour as well as half past every hour, while Kodama left the station at x:20 and x:50 every hour. There were more services at peak times, including Kodama services running between Tokyo and Mishima. The fastest pattern was as follows, with four return journeys every day.
| Tokyo | 6:15 |
| Nagoya | 8:16 |
| Kyoto | 9:08 |
| Shin-Osaka | 9:25 |
| Okayama | 10:25 |
It took 4 hours and 10 minutes by the fastest Hikari. The slowest Hikari from Tokyo to Okayama (pattern C on the table further above) took 4 hours and 30 minutes. Kodama (calling at all stations) from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka took 4 hours and 10 minutes (Tokyo – Nagoya took 2 hours and 45 minutes). There was no Kodama running the entire line.
Shinkansen schedules (2023)
Today, there are three service patterns: Nozomi, Hikari and Kodama. Many Nozomi services do not start or terminate at Okayama but as far as Hiroshima or Hakata, and there are services towards Kyushu Shinkansen as well, but this article excludes anything beyond Okayama.
Four Nozomi trains (daily services) depart Tokyo station every hour, but there are more non-daily services in addition to them. Hikari and Kodama run every 30 minutes. Service patterns are as follows (regular services only). Mishima station is served by Hikari every two hours.
| Calling at | ||
| a | Nozomi (Tokyo - Shin-Osaka or farther) | Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, Okayama... |
| b | Nozomi (Tokyo - Hiroshima) | Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, Himeji, Okayama... |
| x | Hikari (Tokyo - Okayama) | Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, (Mishima,) Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka & all stations to Okayama; |
| y | Hikari (Tokyo - Shin-Osaka) | Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, Odawara, Nagoya, & all stations to Shin-Osaka |
| Kodama | All stations | |
The fastest train between Tokyo and Okayama is as follows:
| Tokyo | 6:00 |
| Shinagawa | 6:07 |
| Shin-Yokohama | 6:18 |
| Nagoya | 7:34 |
| Kyoto | 8:08 |
| Shin-Osaka | 8:22 |
| Shin-Kobe | 8:36 |
| Okayama | 9:09 |
| (arriving Hakata at 10:52) | |
As the maximum speed on the line was raised from 210 km/h (131 mph) to 300 km/h (187 mph), the duration between Tokyo and Okayama is now 3 hours 9 minutes, an hour shorter than in 1973. However, Kodama from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka takes 3 hours and 54 minutes, merely 16 minutes shorter than in that 1973. This is because Kodama trains have to wait at almost all stations to be surpassed by faster services.
Shinkansen is the symbol of Japanese railways, and literally everything has dramatically evolved in the past 50 years including speed and frequency. Tokaido and San-yo Shinkansen provide the most frequent services among all high-speed railways in the world, even though they are no longer the fastest.
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