Shinano Railway will start IC card ticket and Suica service on March 14, 2026.
Suica compatible ticket gates will be installed at each station and ticket vending machines that can be recharged will be installed at all but a few manned stations, and mutual use with Suica Metropolitan area will begin. IC cards such as TOICA and ICOCA, and regionally linked IC cards such as KURURU can also be used.
Suica commuter passes can be purchased at Karuizawa, Komoro, Ueda, Yashiro, Nagano (Shinano Railway ticket office), and Toyono stations; Suica commuter passes and Mobile Suica commuter passes are also available, and in addition to commuter passes for JR East (limited to within the scope of interchange transportation), commuter passes for Shinano Railway sections only are also available.
Fares when using IC cards will be in units of 1 yen. In conjunction with the introduction, the consumption tax on ticket fares (in units of 10 yen) will be changed from rounding to the nearest yen, so that, in principle, the IC fare will not exceed the ticket fare.
Note that even if the boarding or alighting station is within the Suica area, it is not possible to use a section outside the area. In particular, when using the Koumi Line between Komoro Station and Nobeyama Station, which is outside the area, the fare will be calculated via Shinonoi Station and Matsumoto Station if the IC card is used to enter or exit the station. If you wish to use this section, you are advised to purchase a ticket in advance.
With the launch of the service, ticket sales at ticket windows at stations other than the Suica stations mentioned above will cease on March 13. Due to the replacement of ticketing equipment, the use of credit cards at ticket windows and ticket vending machines will also be discontinued on the same day.
The “Karuizawa-Nagano Free Ticket”, which allows unlimited travel between Nagano Station, Shinonoi Station, and Karuizawa Station, and the “Chikumagawa Ticket”, a coupon-type ticket, will also be discontinued as of March 13. Digital tickets will be sold as an alternative to the special tickets.
© Source travel watch