It takes 16 hours to Aomori from Osaka! Shiratori is the longest daytime express train in Japan

used to be a limited express train called
Shiratori operated by the Japanese National Railways (JNR) and JR, which ran over 1000km along the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan from Osaka Station to Aomori Station When it was introduced in 1961, the journey time from Osaka Station to Aomori Station was as long as
15 hours and 45 minutes However, despite its long service time, the Shiratori was not a sleeper limited express train.
It was
a daytime limited express train where passengers sat in seats In this article, we will introduce the Shiratori, which ran the longest distance of any daytime limited express train on a conventional line (a line other than the Shinkansen) in

The appearance of "Swan"

"limited express" is well-known among people who use trains on a daily basis, but it is actually an abbreviation of
"special express train." In the former Japan National Railways (the predecessor of JR), limited express trains were truly special trains that only ran on limited routes.

This situation changed dramatically in 1958,
the Hatsukari began operating
between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture this was changed to using railcars , the Kiha 81 series, which ran on diesel fuel

We have explained the Hatsukari Express in a previous article, so please take a look

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

The tracks of Hatsukari, the first express train in the Tohoku region

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/28372

When people living in the Tokyo metropolitan area use public transportation to visit the Tohoku region, they often use Shinkansen trains such as the Tohoku Shinkansen. However, the Tohoku Shinkansen opened in 1982, about 40 years ago. In earlier times, what did people ride to the Tohoku region? One option is Hatsukari, the first limited express train to run in the Tohoku region. Introducing the first limited express train in the Tohoku region In the pre-war and immediately post-war eras, the limited express trains of Japan National Railways (predecessor of today's JR) were truly special trains, as their official name "special express trains" suggests, capable of traveling long distances. The main character is the express line...

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The Kiha 82 series, which can be considered a mass-produced version of the Kiha 81 series, debuted on October 1, 1961, the year after the Kiha 81 series debuted .
The Kiha 82 series became the first express train to operate on many routes where no express trains had operated until then .
One of these trains was called
Shirotori The name "Shirotori" is said to come from the swans that fly to Lake Hyoko in Niigata Prefecture.

We will not go into detail about Nou Incident that occurred at Nou Station in Niigata Prefecture on the first day of Shiratori's operation

"Sea of ​​Japan Swans" and "Shinetsu Swans"

When the Shiratori first appeared, it was a train that ran from Osaka Station to Naoetsu Station in Niigata Prefecture, with two six-car formations: one running between Osaka Station and Aomori Station along the Sea of ​​Japan coast (hereafter referred to as the "Sea of ​​Japan Longitudinal Line"), and the other running between Osaka Station and Ueno Station.
To distinguish between trains departing from and arriving at Aomori and those departing from and arriving at Ueno, the JNR apparently called the "Sea of ​​Japan Shiratori" and the "Shinetsu Shiratori,"

When it was first introduced, the Nihonkai Shiratori had a mileage of 1,052.9 km

• It is a conventional train (not a Shinkansen)
• It is a day train (not a night train)
• It is an express train (for passengers)

Among the trains that meet all of the above conditions (daytime express trains on conventional lines), there has never been a train in the history of Japanese railways that exceeds the Shiratori in terms of mileage .

According to the October 1964 timetable I have, the Shiratori departs Osaka Station at 8:15 AM, stops at Kyoto, Maibara, Tsuruga, Fukui, Daishoji, Kanazawa, Takaoka, and Toyama, and arrives at Naoetsu Station at 3:06 PM. The
Aomori-bound and Ueno-bound trains are separated here, and the Aomori-bound train stops at Nagaoka, Niitsu, Tsuruoka, Sakata, Akita, Higashi-Noshiro, Odate, and Hirosaki, arriving at its final destination, Aomori Station, at 11:47 PM. (The Ueno-bound train stops at Nagano, Karuizawa, Yokokawa, and Takasaki, arriving at Ueno Station at 8:20 PM.) The journey takes a long
15 hours and 32 minutes, passing through two prefectures and eight prefectures: Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama, Niigata, Yamagata, Akita, and .
Although it was a long journey, the overnight express "Nihonkai" that ran the same route took 22 hours, so it was a revolutionary speed increase at the time.

From Aomori Station, passengers could also transfer to the Seikan Ferry departing at 0:15 and travel to Hakodate Station in Hokkaido.
This train not only connected the Kinki, Hokuriku, and Tohoku regions, but also provided access to Hokkaido .
By October 1964, both the Nihonkai Hakucho and Shinetsu Hakucho had already been expanded to 14 cars, with seven cars each.

The train bound for Osaka was scheduled to depart Aomori Station at 5:20, awaiting the arrival of the Seikan Ferry, and arrive at Osaka Station at 9:07 p.m., taking a total of 15 hours and 47 minutes.
In Ishikawa Prefecture, the train did not stop at Daishoji Station, but instead stopped at Iburihashi Station.

The hugely popular "Swan"

The Shiratori, the first limited express train on the Japan Sea Longitudinal Line, seems to have become very popular, and the Nihonkai Shiratori, which also serves Hokkaido, became extremely crowded.
Therefore, in the timetable revision in October 1965, the Shinetsu Shiratori the limited express "Hakutaka," and the Shiratori was made to run only between Osaka Station and Aomori Station.
At the same time, the train was changed to stop at Niigata Station, which it had not previously done.

Since it was now operated independently, the train's formation became longer.
According to the timetable from October 1967, the train consisted of 14 cars at this point, with 4 of these cars detached at Niigata Station, and the train operated as a 10-car formation between Niigata Station and Aomori Station.
Also, according to the timetable from March 1972, the train had been reduced to 13 cars at this point, but all cars were now going to Aomori Station.

"Shirotori" became an express train

Author: Gohachiyasu1214 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123866005

With the completion of electrification of the Japan Sea Longitudinal Line and the use of electric trains, the rolling stock used on Shiratori was changed from the Kiha 82 series to the 13-car 485 series electric train in a timetable revision in October 1972. The 485
series electric train was a typical limited express train from the days of the Japanese National Railways.
The speed increase achieved by switching to electric trains was significant, with the journey time between Osaka Station and Aomori Station reduced to 13 hours and 40 minutes.
In March 1975, the route within Shiga Prefecture was shortened by changing to the Kosei Line, which opened on the west side of Lake Biwa.

In November 1982, the Shiratori train was added, running one round trip per day between Fukui Station and Aomori Station.
However, unlike the Shiratori train departing and arriving at Osaka Station, it did not have a dining car attached.
Then, in November 1984, the dining car was also removed from the Shiratori train departing and arriving
at Osaka Station, despite the train running for 13 hours.

Furthermore, the Shiratori service departing from and arriving at Fukui Station was discontinued with the timetable revision in March 1985, just two years and four months after its introduction.
Trains departing from and arriving at Osaka Station also had one car removed, bringing the total to 10 cars at this time, and in November 1986 another car was removed to make it a 9-car train.
It can be said that by this time, the Shiratori's glory was already beginning to wane.

The Shiratori was discontinued in the early 21st century

the Shiratori was launched in 1961, airfares were very expensive and air travel was not common.
However, this was no longer the case in the 1980s.
People began to use airplanes to travel between the Kinki region and the Tohoku region or Hokkaido .

In 1987, when the Japanese National Railways was split up and privatized into the various JR companies, the Shiratori became a train that ran across the areas of JR West and JR East.
After privatization, the train was made slightly faster and the facilities inside the cars were improved, but it was impossible to resist the flow of time, and the number of people using the Shiratori decreased along the entire section from Osaka Station to Aomori Station.

If there are no longer any passengers using the entire route, there is no big problem in splitting the limited express train's operating section midway.
Also, trains that run too long distances have the disadvantage of being more likely to encounter problems and delays along the way.
The Shiratori, which ran between Osaka Station and Aomori Station, was discontinued, leaving its successor to
"Raicho" , the limited express "Hokuetsu" "Inaho" between Niigata Station and Aomori Station final run was on March 2, 2001 , and many people, especially railway fans, bid farewell to the train as it came to an end after nearly 40 years of service.

To reiterate, the Shiratori's operating distance was the longest for a daytime express train on a conventional line in Japan.
And it is unlikely that this record will ever be broken .
the Nichirin Seagaia operated by JR Kyushu .
Its route is 413.1 km from Hakata Station to Miyazaki Airport Station via Kokura Station, Oita Station, and Miyazaki Station.
This is less than half of the Shiratori's distance, which covered over 1,000 km of track.

The second-generation "Shirotori" that passed through the Seikan Tunnel

In December 2002, the year after the Shiratori was discontinued, the limited express trains that ran from Hachinohe Station and Aomori Station through the Seikan Tunnel to Hakodate Station were given the names
"Super Shiratori." Although the name is the same as the Shiratori between Osaka Station and Aomori Station, the trains operated on completely different routes (except for stopping at Aomori Station), so we will not go into detail here.
This train, which could be called the second-generation Shiratori, was discontinued with the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen in March 2016.

in conclusion

Currently, if you travel by plane from Osaka Station to Aomori Station, the flight time is about an hour and a half, and even including travel time to Itami Airport and from Aomori Airport, can
arrive in about four hours you can
arrive in about six and a half hours by changing between the Tokaido Shinkansen and Tohoku Shinkansen It's understandable that there is no longer any demand for a train that takes 13 hours to travel along the Japan Sea Main Line
However, spending half a day on a train once offered a kind of romance that is not found in modern train journeys.

Please remember the Shiratori, which reigned as a famous train on the Japan Sea Main Line and had a great impact on the Tohoku region

Yuto Ono

A former railway engineer and current freelance writer who has loved trains since childhood. His dream is to make railway travel his job.