SHINKANSEN “Nozomi” to finally have “All Reserved Seats”?
JR Tokai and JR West announced on September 13, 2023 (Wed.) that all seats on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen “Nozomi” will be reserved seats only during the “three major peak periods”.
The three major peak periods are Golden Week, Obon, and year-end and New Year holidays.
The change will start from the year-end and New Year period of this year (December 28, 2023 to January 4, 2024).
“Nozomi” trains usually have non-reserved seats in Cars 1 through 3.
According to JR Tokai, there are problems during these busy periods, such as reserved seats filling up early and passengers finding it difficult to board trains from intermediate stations due to overcrowding. In addition, platforms were crowded with people waiting to board unreserved seats, making boarding and alighting time-consuming and resulting in train delays.
The change to all reserved seats will increase the number of reserved seats available by approximately 20% per train, allowing more people to be seated, and will also reduce platform congestion.
During the Obon season, although the overall transportation capacity was covered, there were days when passengers were concentrated in the morning trains and afternoon trains were empty. The change to all reserved seats is also meant to spread out the passengers.
In addition, starting this October, reservations for reserved seats can be made “one year in advance” through the “EX Service. JR Tokai and JR West hope that passengers will take advantage of this service as well.
JR Tokai and JR West are planning to prepare more trains and seats than ever before during the three major peak periods, such as by utilizing the “Nozomi 12 train timetable” between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka and increasing the number of direct trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines.
Incidentally, the company says that it is not currently considering the possibility of offering all reserved seats throughout the year, but will consider this while keeping an eye on the usage situation.
YAHOO NEWS SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/45d1cbc31652a442fb8e46321b123ac77723d6e0
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