Know Your Trains: Kyushu Shinkansen

An 800-series "Tsubame" train approaching Kurume Station.
By JKT-c [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

The Kyushu Shinkansen (九州新幹線, Kyūshū Shinkansen) is a high-speed rail line running along the west coast of the island of Kyushu, between the cities of Fukuoka (at Hakata Station) and Kagoshima (at Kagoshima-Chuo Station).  Owned and operated by JR Kyushu, the line opened partially in 2004, and fully in 2011, connecting with the Sanyo Shinkansen to provide through-service all the way to Tokyo.  Its top speed is 260 kilometers per hour, or 160 miles per hour.

A map of the Kyushu Shinkansen and its stops, including sections currently under construction.

Three services run on the Kyushu Shinkansen: the local "Tsubame", the semi-express "Sakura", and the express "Mizuho".  The vast majority of services are Sakura, with the other two operating mainly during the morning and evening rush hours.  Mizuho and most Sakura services continue on from Hakata on to the Sanyo Shinkansen, terminating at Shin-Osaka Station.  With only one transfer, it is possible to travel from Tokyo all the way to Kagoshima in 7 (by Nozomi and Mizuho) to 8 (by Hikari and Sakura) hours.

Name	Colour*	Start Station	End Station	Time**	Max. Frequency***
Tsubame	White	Hakata	Kagoshima-Chuo	2 hours	3-4 per day
Sakura	Pink	Shin-Osaka (Sanyo) Hakata	Kagoshima-Chuo	80-90 minutes	1-2 per hour
Mizuho	Orange	Shin-Osaka (Sanyo)	Kagoshima-Chuo	80 minutes	6 per day

* The colour associated with each particular service on signboards, etc.
** Approximate time between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chuo stations.
*** Departure frequency is based on March 2017 schedules and are subject to change.

When the Kyushu Shinkansen first opened in 2004, it only ran between Shin-Yatsushiro and Kagoshima-Chuo stations.  In 2011, it was extended all the way north to Hakata Station.

Name (English)	Name (Japanese)	Prefecture	Tsubame	Sakura	Mizuho
Hakata	博多	Fukuoka	X	X	X
Shin-Tosu	新鳥栖	Saga	X	O	I
Kurume	久留米	Fukuoka	X	O	I
Chikugo-Funagoya	筑後船小屋		X	I	I
Shin-Omuta	新大牟田		X	I	I
Shin-Tamana	新玉名	Kumamoto	X	I	I
Kumamoto	熊本		X	X	X
Shin-Yatsushiro	新八代		X	O	I
Shin-Minamata	新水俣		X	O	I
Izumi	出水	Kagoshima	X	O	I
Sendai	川内		X	X	I
Kagoshima-Chuo	鹿児島中央		X	X	X

Legend

X: All trains stop at this station.

O: Some trains stop at this station.

I: No trains stop at this station.

Notable stops

• Hakata: The main station in Fukuoka, the largest city in Kyushu.
• Kumamoto: A castle town struck by earthquakes in 2016.
• Shin-Minamata: A town struck by a mercury poisoning disaster in the 1950s, now a model for environmental recovery.
• Kagoshima-Chuo: The southernmost city of Japan, with an active volcano in its bay.

A branch line to Nagasaki is currently under construction.  An isolated section of the line, from Nagasaki to Takeo-Onsen, is scheduled to open in 2023/24.  A connection to the trunk line at Shin-Tosu has been put on hold, however, in favour of simply using shuttle services on the existing narrow-gauge tracks.  When the first section opens, connections between Shin-Tosu and Takeo-Onsen will be provided by a relay service.  The table below shows what the Nagasaki branch route is planned to look like.

Name (English)	Name (Japanese)	Prefecture	Tsubame	Sakura	Mizuho
Hakata	博多	Fukuoka	X	X	X
Shin-Tosu	新鳥栖	Saga	Construction on hold
Saga	佐賀
Takeo-Onsen	武雄温泉		Under construction Scheduled to open 2023/24
Ureshino-Onsen*	嬉野温泉
Shin-Omura*	新大村	Nagasaki
Isahaya	諫早
Nagasaki	長崎

*Tentative names for stations to be newly constructed.

The interior of an 800-series reserved car, with wider seats making up for the lack of a Green Car.
By TTTNIS [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons

Two kinds of train sets are used on the Kyushu Shinkansen: the 8-car N700-series, also used on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen, and the 6-car 800-series, which is exclusively used on the Kyushu Shinkansen.  Green Cars on both of these trains are either limited or non-existent, so to make up for this, ordinary reserved seats (and non-reserved seats on 6-car sets) are arranged in a 2+2 layout, making them wider and almost as comfortable as Green Car seats.

Service	Total Cars	Non-Reserved Cars	Reserved Cars	Green Cars
Tsubame	8	3 (Cars #1-3)	4½ (Cars #4-8)	½ (Car #6)
	6	3 (Cars #1-3)	3 (Cars #4-6)	0
Sakura	8	3 (Cars #1-3)	4½ (Cars #4-8)	½ (Car #6)
	6	3 (Cars #1-3)	3 (Cars #4-6)	0
Mizuho	8	3 (Cars #1-3)	4½ (Cars #4-8)	½ (Car #6)

Tips

• Mizuho services are NOT covered by the Japan Rail Pass. Even if you have a JR Pass active, if you take one of these trains, you must pay the full fare out of pocket. On the Sanyo and Kyushu lines, services are marked by different colours on signboards. If you're using a JR Pass, beware of orange text/backgrounds -- these denote Mizuho trains!
• In addition to the Japan Rail Pass, the JR Kyushu Area Pass covers all of the Kyushu Shinkansen.  Notably, it also covers Mizuho services, where the nationwide JR Pass does not.  However, it does not cover Green Car fees, and the number of seat reservations that can be made with each pass are limited.  JR Kyushu also sells versions of the pass covering only the north or south of Kyushu, which also cover the Kyushu Shinkansen to the north or south of Kumamoto Station, respectively.  More information: (English)
• Do not confuse Sendai Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen with the Sendai Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen.  The former (in Kyushu) is written as "川内" in Japanese, the latter (in Tohoku) as "仙台".
• The Japan Rail Pass and Kyushu Rail Pass do not cover the Hisatsu Orange Railway, a regular line that was transferred to a non-JR company after the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen (see the Trivia section below).

Trivia

• The name "Tsubame" (つばめ) means "swallow", as in the bird, in English.  It was previously used for multiple trains: one from Tokyo to Kobe, one from Tokyo to Osaka, one from Osaka to Fukuoka, one from Fukuoka to Kagoshima, and finally the "Relay Tsubame", a limited express from 2004 to 2011 which filled in the gap between the Sanyo and southern Kyushu Shinkansen.
• The name "Sakura" (さくら) means "cherry blossom" in English.  It was previously used for an overnight limited express service Tokyo and Nagasaki.  It operated from 1959 to 2005.
• The name "Mizuho" (みずほ) means "harvest", or literally "abundant rice" in English.  It was previously used for an overnight limited express service between Tokyo and Kumamoto.  It operated from 1961 to 1994.
• When the southern leg of the Kyushu Shinkansen was completed in 2004, a section of JR's conventional Kagoshima Main Line that ran parallel to the Shinkansen was sold to a new semi-public company (co-owned by private companies and local prefecture governments).  The section between Yatsushiro, in Kumamoto prefecture, and Sendai, in Kagoshima prefecture, was transferred to the new Hisatsu Orange Railway.
• JR Kyushu's original plan for the Nagasaki branch line was to provide nonstop service with "Gauge Change Trains", capable of running on both regular and Shinkansen tracks.  Due to cost and safety issues which arose during testing, in June 2017, they announced that they were cancelling plans to use Gauge Change Trains.  More information: (Japanese)