The was a
limited express
A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes.
Japan
The term "limited express" is a common ...
overnight
sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car.
...
train service in Japan operated by
Japanese National Railways
The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987.
Network Railways
As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...
(JNR) and later by
West Japan Railway Company
, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...
(JR West), which ran from to and in
Shimane Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...
until March 2006.
Rolling stock
In its latter years, the ''Izumo'' service was operated using
JR East
The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...
24/25 series sleeping cars based at Oku Depot in Tokyo.
Services were however operated by JR West staff.
History
The ''Izumo'' service (written in ''
hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...
'' as ) commenced on 29 June 1947, as a "semi-express" service operating between and (now closed).
From 19 November 1956, this was upgraded to become an "express" service (written in ''
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
'' as ) operating between and .
From 15 March 1972, the train was upgraded to become a "
limited express
A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes.
Japan
The term "limited express" is a common ...
" service.
From 10 July 1998, one pair of ''Izumo'' services was replaced by new
285 series
The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated jointly by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) on the overnight ''Sunrise Izumo'' and ''Sunrise Seto'' limited express services in Japan ...
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
trains running as the ''
Sunrise Izumo
The is an overnight sleeping car train service in Japan operated jointly by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) since July 1998.
Operations
The ''Sunrise Izumo'' runs daily between and in Shim ...
'' together with the ''
Sunrise Seto
The is an overnight sleeping car train service in Japan operated jointly by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) since July 1998.
Operations
The ''Sunrise Seto'' runs daily between and in Kagaw ...
'' via .
The remaining pair of services followed the original route, travelling over the
Sanin Main Line
The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...
west of , via .
The last remaining ''Izumo'' services were withdrawn from the start of the revised timetable on 18 March 2006.
See also
*
Blue Train (Japan)
in Japan were long-distance sleeper trains, nicknamed as such for the color of the train cars. They consisted of 20-, 14- or 24-series sleeper cars, and connected major destinations within Japan across long distances. For a time, other routes w ...
References
{{JR West trains
West Japan Railway Company
Named passenger trains of Japan
Night trains of Japan
Railway services introduced in 1947
Railway services discontinued in 2006