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Japanese trains have long been known for their speed and efficiency. Now, if the East Japan Railway Company has its way, luxurious may soon be added to the list with the May 1 debut of its Train Suite Shiki-shima. Designed by famed industrial designer Ken Okuyama and inspired by the popularity of the Seven Stars Cruise Train that began service in 2013, the super exclusive Shiki-shima train offers passengers traveling from Tokyo's Ueno station to eastern areas on the main island of Honshu a cruise ship-like experience on rails.
The 10-car train can accommodate no more than 34 passengers per trip, with 15 suites in five regular sleeper cars, and two suites in a deluxe sleeper. All suites come with their own private dining area and two twin beds. Besides a dining car and lounge car, the two domed observation cars at both ends are a highlight of the feature-rich train, with large windows along the walls and roof and sofas that run the length of the car for passengers to relax and take in the mountain or coastal scenery. To that end, the company is offering trips of two to four days that emphasize seasonal landscapes and events, with sightseeing stops by bus along the way.
[...] The cost of a trip on Shiki-shima starts at ¥320,000 (US$2,850) per person when sharing a room, and goes up to ¥950,000 (US$8,450) per person sharing the deluxe suite. Demand for the inaugural trip was such that passengers were chosen by lottery, while subsequent trips on Shiki-shima are already booked through March 2018. Luxury train travel seems to be catching on in Japan, with the West Japan Railway Company, based out of Osaka, to begin its Twilight Express Mizukaze cruise train service in June.
Also reported at the South China Morning Post.
Looks like a lovely, if expensive, way to travel.
There are some great pictures in the original article.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday May 09 2017, @09:38PM
I've taken amtrak, its a good adventure and fun. Its also incredibly expensive to do first class.
The Japanese experience is 2-4 days at $2,850 per person. We'll call it 3 days.
chicago to seatle on the empire builder is round trip with first class superliner bedroom would take about the same amount of time and is $1277 each way or $2554 total for one adult. That's a sofa/bunk bed and a nice comfy chair and a in room bathroom/shower and of course food included. The food in the 00s was like "Dennys" style, it was food but nothing astounding. I have read there is a concerted effort to kill off Amtrak by making the food worse perhaps going all the way to vending machine only.
In the 90s/00s I took the superliner regular bedroom between CHI and NYC on a different route a couple times for "eh" $600 or so. It has to be kept in mind that compared to air and hotel and restaurants and taxi the train is probably cheaper and probably lower stress. Also I enjoy the hell out of it. But its harder to justify the seattle run. The seattle empire builder does pass thru and stop at glacier national park.
Also the 1st class only lounge in Chicago is really very nice.
I'm surprised how cheap the Japanese train is, and how expensive Amtrak is.