Sakura (train service)

Services are formed as shown below with car 1 at the Kagoshima-Chuo end. All cars are no smoking except for smoking compartments in cars 3 and 7. Unusually, reserved ordinary class seats are wider than unreserved seats.

• 
  N700-7000 series Green car interior
• 
  N700-7000 series standard-class reserved car interior
• 
  N700-7000 series standard-class non-reserved car interior

All cars are no smoking.

14 series sleeping car at the rear of the Sakura service at Hakata Station, May 2003

The Sakura was first introduced on 1 April 1951 as a daytime Limited express service between Tokyo and Osaka. This service was discontinued in October 1958.[2]

The Sakura sleeping car service commenced on 20 July 1959 using 20 series sleeping cars. From March 1972, the train was upgraded with 14 series sleeping cars.[2]

From 4 December 1999, the Sakura ran coupled with the Hayabusa service between Tokyo and Tosu.[3] The last services ran on the evening of 28 February 2005.

From 12 March 2011, the Sakura name was revived once again for the new shinkansen services operating between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chūō using new JR West N700-7000 series and JR Kyushu N700-8000 series 8-car trainsets.[1]

Sakura trains operate once every hour between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chūō throughout the day. One morning service departs from Kumamoto to Shin-Osaka. There are also additional Sakura services between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chuo during the daytime. Some Sakura runs within the Kyushu Shinkansen are operated by 6-car 800 series trains.[4]

As with the existing Hikari service that operates on the Tokaido & Sanyo Shinkansen lines, the Sakura is the fastest service on the Sanyo & Kyushu Shinkansen lines that can be used with the Japan Rail Pass.

In an announcement by JR Central, JR West, and JR Kyushu made on 17 October 2023, the companies stated that all onboard smoking rooms on the Tokaido, San'yo, and Kyushu Shinkansen trains would be abolished by Q2 2024.[5]