International Railroad Discussion > Progress on "Train Suite Shiki-shima"

East Japan Railway Company (JR East) announced back in 2013 of their plans for a super luxury train, similar to Kyushu Railway Company's (JR Kyushu) "Seven Stars" which began revenue service in October of 2013.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?6,3549695

On 24th of August, JR East announced to the press the completion of 7 of the 10 cars that will become the Train Suite Shiki-shima. Shiki-shima is literally translated as "Island of Four Seasons," one of the nicknames given to Japan, as the country's weather has 4 distinct seasons.

One of the press releases on September 1st (Japanese only):
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/feature/CO021311/20160829-OYT8T50046.html

English wikipedia entry of the train set, which will be called the E0001 series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E001_series

JR East's official web site of Train Suite Shiki-shima, in English:
http://www.jreast.co.jp/shiki-shima/en/

This super luxury service is scheduled to start on May 2017, and is squarely aimed at similar clientele to the already-running Seven Stars, with a different geographic coverage from Tokyo and north. The E001 train set uses a hybrid drivetrain, where it can run from the catenary, or use electricity generated onboard - yup, diesel-electric.

Luxury rail travel in Japan has gone beyond the Cassiopeia and now we have competing luxury services. JR West is working on Twilight Express Mizukaze (also scheduled to start in spring of 2017), so there should be not two, but three super luxury trains running in Japan next year!
 

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That is a cutting edge look for a train. The Japanese come up with some very non-traditional designs. I saw the interior views of this in a travel section of a British publication. Very luxurious. No apparent attempt to make it look like it's a train. Thanks for posting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/16 08:03 by King_Coal.

That is pretty wild. the faceted window spaces are remniscent of the Leiji Matsumoto inspired Suijobus that you can see plying the Sumida river and Tokyo Bay. Truely a "Galaxy Express" on rails.

The suite car is like a tatami hotel room on wheels. Although a very fancy one.

I would definitely enjoy an experience like that. But I am guessing it is not included with the regular tourist JR Rail Pass! :D

-Mike

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

> That is pretty wild. the faceted window spaces are remniscent of the Leiji Matsumoto
> inspired Suijobus that you can see plying the Sumida river and Tokyo Bay.
> Truely a "Galaxy Express" on rails.

> The suite car is like a tatami hotel room on wheels. Although a very fancy one.

> I would definitely enjoy an experience like that. But I am guessing it is not included with the regular tourist JR Rail Pass! :D

> -Mike

> Mike Massee
> Tehachapi, CA

It's interesting that Eiji Mitooka (designer of the Seven Stars) went for the more traditional and "royal" approach to luxury, while Ken Okuyama went for the "Avant-garde" approach for the Shiki-shima. Looks like the "train connoiseurs" of Asia, not just Japan, will get more than enough of their fix - I've noticed a good number of "luxury tourists" from places like Hong Kong.. and it might sound elitist but they are different compared to the average tourists from China.

At least for the Cassiopeia (and the Hokutosei), JR Rail Pass I used covered the rail fare between the end points. I just had to pay for the berthing and the limited express fees. The JR Rail Pass Terms & Conditions only exclude the Mizuho and Nozomi Shinkansen trains, so technically, the JR Rail Pass could cover the rail fare portion of the Seven Stars or the Shiki-shima... but for now, it's tough to test that theory, since those trains sell out many months before the actual run.