Affiliation with JR Tokai and Affiliation with JR West The 16-car trains currently in use on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen can be roughly divided into three series: the N700, N700A, and N700S. For each of these trains, there are trains belonging to JR Tokai and trains belonging to JR West. The cars belonging to JR Tokai do not only run on the Tokaido Shinkansen, but they also transfer to the Sanyo Shinkansen and go as far as Hakata. The same is true in the opposite direction, with trains belonging to JR West running on the Tokaido Shinkansen to Tokyo. In this case, JR Tokai and JR West borrow and lend cars to each other. If the cumulative total of the distance that JR Tokai’s cars travel on the Sanyo Shinkansen and the cumulative total of the distance that JR West’s cars travel on the Tokaido Shinkansen were to be matched, the total would be zero, and there would be no need to exchange car usage fees. However, due to the number of cars and the timetable, if the cars are allowed to run without any consideration (?) However, if the trains were to run together, the distance that JR Tokai’s trains travel on the Sanyo Shinkansen would be greater than the distance that JR Tokai’s trains travel on the Sanyo Shinkansen. In order to maintain a balance, JR West trains sometimes travel only on the Tokaido Shinkansen. As a result, there are situations in which JR West trains are assigned to “Kodama” operations on the Tokaido Shinkansen.
Points to distinguish affiliations Even though they have different affiliations, they look almost the same, so it is hard to distinguish them at a glance. However, there are points that distinguish them. The following three points are easy to recognize. The JR Tokai cars were switched to the new “Let’s meet each other” chime on July 21, 2023, but the West Japan cars remain with the “Itinerant on a good day” chime.
JR mark on the side of the car. The JR mark is painted next to the car number mark, but cars belonging to JR Tokai are orange, and cars belonging to JR West are blue.
Markings above the partition door. The “JR Tokai” and “JR Nishinihon” markings are on the upper part of the partition door where you enter the passenger compartment from the deck. A bit more geeky is the train number. This information is used by crew members and station attendants to identify individual train cars, and is written on the front window of the driver’s cab, on the crew compartment doors on both sides of the driver’s cab, and on the business doors of cars No. 7 and 11. The lineup is as follows N700: “XXX” for cars belonging to JR Tokai and “KXX” for cars belonging to JR West.
N700A: “Gxx” for cars belonging to JR Tokai and “Fxx” for cars belonging to JR West
N700S: “Jxx” for cars belonging to JR Tokai and “Hxx” for cars belonging to JR Nishinihon In the past, Series 700s were transferred from JR Tokai to JR Nishinihon. In the past, Series 700s were transferred from JR Tokai to JR West. At that time, the train number remained “Cxx” as it was in the JR Tokai era, but only the JR mark on the side and the mark above the partition door were changed to JR West specifications. Such exceptions sometimes occur.
© Source travel watch