Is it too minor? The special train "Harbor Rainbow" connecting Akita Prefecture and Hokkaido

From around 1994 to the early 2000s,Harbor RainbowJR operated a special train called the

due to its limited operating period and dayswas not well-knownalsoan unusual and unique train in many waysit was

What is Harbor Rainbow?

that JR's special train, the "Harbor Rainbow," first ran around1994.Initially, it operated as an express train, and around 2000, it became a limited express train. However, it seems that it ceased operation a few years after becoming a limited express. Given its limited operating period and thethat it only ran for a few days a year, or at most around 16 days, it was undoubtedly a train with very little recognition.

The train ranAkita StationHakodate Station, viaAomori Station. It was established to promote tourism in the Akita area. The journey from Akita Station to Hakodate Station took approximately 7 hours.

The lines it passed through were, in order from Akita Station, the Ou Main Line, Tsugaru Line, Kaikyo Line, Esashi Line (now the Dounan Isaribi Railway Line), and Hakodate Main Line. At the time, the section from Aomori Station to Hakodate Station (the four lines from the Tsugaru Line to the Hakodate Main Line) was collectively called the "Tsugaru Kaikyo Line."

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

Two years after the heavy rains of August 2022... What will happen to the Tsugaru Line? [Aomori Prefecture]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/33857

The Tsugaru Line runs through the eastern part of the Tsugaru Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture. Originally, it was merely a local line, but with the opening of the Seikan Tunnel in 1988, the southern half of the line became an important route connecting Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido. However, the northern half remained a local line, and was damaged in heavy rains in August 2022. It was decided that the line would be abolished without being restored. What does the future hold for the areas along the Tsugaru Line? What is the Tsugaru Line? The Tsugaru Line runs from Aomori Station, the central station in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture, to Yomogita Village in Higashitsugaru County, Sotogahama...

read more

The Ou Main Line and Tsugaru Line are under the jurisdiction of JR East, while the Seikan Line, Esashi Line (at the time), and Hakodate Main Line are under the jurisdiction of JR Hokkaido, so the "Harbor Rainbow" was a special train that ran across the areas of JR East and JR Hokkaido

Regarding details such as the operating schedule of the "Harbor Rainbow," this is (embarrassingly) about all the information I can provide. However, even with this limited information,this train had several unusual featuresit's clear that

It's rare to see JR Hokkaido trains entering Akita Prefecture

The train used for the "Harbor Rainbow"the "North Rainbow Express," a joy train (or, in more recent terms, a sightseeing train) owned by JR Hokkaido. Specifically, it was a diesel railcar of the "Kiha 183 series 5200 subtype." It began commercial operation in 1992.

As the name suggests, JR Hokkaido is a company whose main business area is Hokkaido. However, it is not uncommon for JR Hokkaido-owned trains to enter Honshu via the Seikan Tunnel, an undersea tunnel that connects the two islands (in fact, the sections of the Kaikyo Line and Hokkaido Shinkansen that run through Aomori Prefecture on the Honshu side are also under the jurisdiction of JR Hokkaido)

Until the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened in 2016, the "Super Hakucho" limited express train, which connected Shin-Aomori Station (formerly Hachinohe Station until 2010) and Hakodate Station, was operated by trains owned by JR Hokkaido. In addition, some of the "Hokutosei" sleeper express trains, which connected Ueno Station in Tokyo and Sapporo Station in Hokkaido, and the "Hamanasu" overnight express train, which connected Aomori Station and Sapporo Station, used passenger cars owned by JR Hokkaido

After the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened, JR Hokkaido's H5 series trains entered Honshu through the Seikan Tunnel and ran directly onto the Tohoku Shinkansen to Tokyo Station

However,there are very few instances of JR Hokkaido trains operating "in Akita Prefectureit seems that

It is rare for a self-propelled diesel railcar to be pulled by a locomotive

The "North Rainbow Express" used for the "Harbor Rainbow" was a type of train called a "diesel railcar." It is a vehicle that runs on diesel fuel to power a diesel engine, and is a different type of vehicle from the "electric trains" used on Japan's main railway lines and Shinkansen. However, likeelectric trains, it is a self-propelled vehicle and is.

However, despite using self-propelled diesel railcars, the "Harbor Rainbow"was towed by an electric locomotive between Aomori Station and Hakodate Station. This was because, for disaster prevention reasons, the diesel railcars could not operate under their own power inside the Seikan Tunnel, a long tunnel running under the sea. As a result, the unusual sight of diesel railcars being towed by a locomotive occurred.

However, the "rare sight" is only a story from that time. During the days of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) before the launch of JR, trains in which diesel railcars were pulled by electric locomotives to intermediate stations ran every day from 1968 to 1982. For more details, please see the article below

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

A locomotive, passenger cars, and a diesel railcar!? The strangest train formations in the world [Aomori, Akita, Iwate]

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/38111

It's fair to say that electric trains are the mainstay of Japan's railways today. On non-electrified lines where electricity is unavailable, diesel railcars, which run on diesel fuel, are used. While this has disappeared completely in recent years, during the days of the Japanese National Railways (JNR), before the founding of JR, trains operated in various locations using locomotives to pull passenger cars. Because electric trains and diesel railcars are self-propelled, they are rarely, with very few exceptions, pulled by locomotives for commercial operation. However, on the Tohoku Main Line during the JNR era, locomotives pulled passenger cars...

read more

To get into more technical details, each train operating on the main line is assigned a unique "train number." In the case of the "Harbor Rainbow," it was assigned a number as a "diesel railcar train" for the section from Akita Station to Aomori Station, and anumber as a "passenger train (a train pulled by a locomotive)" for the section from Aomori Station to Hakodate Station. This further supports the idea that the "Harbor Rainbow" was pulled by a locomotive in the Seikan Tunnel section (as mentioned earlier, self-propulsion was impossible for disaster prevention reasons).

When the Harbor Rainbow first appeared in 1994, it was pulled by a locomotive for the entire distance from Akita Station to Hakodate Station

By the way, the "Harbor Rainbow" also had a sister train called the "Harbor Hakodate." It also ran between Akita Station and Hakodate Station, and was a type of train in which a locomotive pulled passenger cars. In its later years, the "Harbor Hakodate" was operated by a 485 series train owned by JR East. This train also seems to have ceased operation in the early 2000s

It is rare that a full-space train can run on a diesel railcar

As the name suggests, trains are vehicles that run on electricity. Basically, they cannot run on their own unless the line is equipped with facilities to supply electricity from an external source (electrified)

*However, there are now trains that are equipped with storage batteries and can run on non-electrified lines. Please see the article below for details

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

The railway version of an electric car? ACCUM, a battery-powered train running on the Oga Peninsula (Akita Prefecture)

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/40619

There are many electric trains currently operating in Japan, but because they essentially rely on external power sources to run, they cannot operate on lines without power facilities. However, on such lines, there are a few vehicles that run on power from onboard storage batteries, similar to electric vehicles. One such line running a battery-powered train is the Oga Line in Akita Prefecture. What is the Oga Line? The Oga Line is a JR East railway line that runs from Oiwake Station in Akita City, Akita Prefecture, to Oga Station in Oga City. It is 26.4 km long and has nine stations.

read more

On the other hand,diesel railcars carry their own fuel, so they can run on non-electrified lines. Non-electrified lines are common on rural lines with few passengers, so diesel railcars are widely used there.

By the way, the line from Akita Station to Hakodate Station on which the "Harbor Rainbow" operated is electrified throughout, so it could also be operated by electric trains. However, for some reason, the special train was operated using diesel railcars, which can run even without electrification

like the "Harbor Rainbow,"which were operated by diesel railcars even though the entire route from the starting point to the final destination was electrified. However, in recent years, while they haven't become extinct, they have become quite rare.

I previously wrote an article titled "An express train that ran only under overhead wires, despite being a diesel train," which introduced a train with such characteristics. In that article, I mainly focused on regularly scheduled trains that run every day, but if I were allowed to include special trains as well, I might have been ableintroduce the "Harbor Rainbow" in the "Japan Sea Main Line Edition."to

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

An express train that ran under overhead wires despite being a diesel train (Japan Sea Longitudinal Line)

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/45749

This time, we'll be looking at express trains that ran on the section of the Japan Sea Longitudinal Line that passes through the Tohoku region, and which, despite being electrified from start to finish, were operated with diesel railcars instead of electric cars. There are many cases where diesel railcars were used for special trains, and it would be difficult to research them all, so we'll only be looking at regular trains. We'll also be excluding cases where trains with multiple start and finish stations have only some of their formations running under overhead wires for the entire section. (The express "Senshu" is not included on this route. "Senshu" is...).

read more

The reason I say "maybe" is because, as I've already explained, the "Harbor Rainbow" was pulled by a locomotive and did not run under its own power between Aomori Station and Hakodate Station, so it may not qualify as having "onlyrun" (as I've already explained, it's certain that at leastthe train number was "not a diesel train"). In short, if you define "ran" as "under its own power", then it doesn't qualify, but if you define it as "traveled", then it does.

It is no longer possible to operate special trains between Akita and Hakodate

As you can see, the Harbor Rainbow was a train that combined many unusual features, but there is information that it was not very well used, and it appears that its operation ceased in the early 2000s

The "North Rainbow Express" train, which was used for this service,ceased operations in the spring of 2023 due to its age andwas dismantled the following year.

I believe that no further special trains will be scheduled to run on the same route as the "Harbor Rainbow," between Akita Station and Hakodate Station. The reason is not simply that the "North Rainbow Express" has been retired, nor is it solely due to poor ridership.A major factor is the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen in 2016.

With the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen, the specifications of the facilities inside the Seikan Tunnel were significantly changed. As a result,most existing trains can no longer pass through the Seikan Tunnel, and the main trains that can travel through the Seikan Tunnel under their own power are limited to the following:

• E5 and H5 series trains used on the Tohoku and Hokkaido Shinkansen lines
• EH800 electric locomotive pulling a freight train through the Seikan Tunnel
• The "TRAIN SUITE Shiki-shima" (E001 series) is a sightseeing sleeper train.
  (In addition, other vehicles used for equipment inspections also pass through the Seikan Tunnel.)

First of all, E5 and H5 series trains cannot operate on lines other than the Shinkansen (conventional lines), soimpossible for them to go to Hakodate Station or Akita Station, which are not Shinkansen stations, even if they are pulled by a locomotive. You might be wondering about Akita Station, since there is the Akita Shinkansen, but the section of the Akita Shinkansen between Morioka Station and Akita Station is actually a conventional line.

The Train Suite Shiki-shima, which debuted in 2017, actually operates on the route between Akita Station and Hakodate Station, so there are no issues with that. However, it is a vehicle used for tours that cost anywhere from several hundred thousand yen to over one million yen. It is highly unlikely that it would ever be used for a special train between Akita Station and Hakodate Station

Therefore,having the EH800 electric locomotive pull the passenger carriages through the Seikan Tunnel. This is exactly what the "Harbor Rainbow" did.

However, there was one instance when the EH800 series pulled a passenger train shortly after the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened, but that ended within a year and has not happened since. Why is that?

As already explained, the EH800 is a locomotive designed to haul freight trains through the Seikan Tunnel. The EH800 was manufactured because the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen necessitated a locomotive with different specifications than conventional locomotives.As this locomotive was needed due to the Shinkansen's national policyfrom the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency for introducing the EH800financial supportreceived

I must preface this by saying that the following information is of uncertain veracity, but it has been suggestedthat using the EH800 series, which was introduced under the circumstances described above, to haul passenger trains may have been a "misuse of subsidies" and therefore problematic.the EH800 series will not haul passenger trains in the futureit would mean that

These are the reasons why I believe that there will no longer be special trains running between Akita Station and Hakodate Station. I would like to say that the "Harbor Rainbow" will be remembered as a phantom train in many ways, but because it is such a minor train, it may never be remembered. I hope that this article will help ensure that it is remembered

Yuto Ono

A former railway engineer and current freelance writer who has loved trains since childhood, his dream is to make train travel his career