The is a limited express train service between

Asahikawa is a city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a core city since April 1, 2000. The city is currently well known for the Asahiy ...

and

Wakkanai ' meaning "cold water river" is a city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. It contains Japan's northernmost point, Cape Sōya, from which the Russian island of Sakhalin can be seen. As of 1 ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

, Japan, which is operated by

Hokkaido Railway Company The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to using its official abbreviation of . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a s ...

(JR Hokkaido). Two trains per day operate in each direction, with the journey taking approximately 3 hours 45 minutes.

Stations

Trains stop at the following stations: - - - - - - - - - -

Rolling stock

Services are normally formed of 4-car

KiHa 261 series The is a tilting train, tilting diesel multiple unit (DMU) train type operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) on limited express services in Hokkaido, Japan, since 2000. Design The running gear was based on the KiHa 201 series trai ...

DMUs, with Car No. 1 at the Wakkanai end and Car No. 4 at the Asahikawa end. Car No. 1 consists of both ordinary-class seats and the Green Car, while the other cars are ordinary-class cars. All seats are non-smoking. Up until 2007, an additional was attached to the train during busy seasons."ＪＲ新幹線＆特急列車ファイル" (JR Shinkansen & Limited Express Train File), published 2008 by Kōtsū Shimbun

History

One of the Sōya services changed its name to ''Sarobetsu'' on July 1, 1992. At that time both Sōya and Sarobetsu ran between and . However, the ''Sarobetsu'' service had no green cars, in contrast to Sōya, and stopped at these stations: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The ''Sarobetsu'' service was suspended, as the KiHa 183 series, which was the same type of train used for the service at that time, was involved in a fire on the

Hakodate Main Line The is a railway line connecting the cities of Hakodate and Asahikawa via Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan. It is one of the trunk lines operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The Sawara Line, a 35 km loop line from Ōnuma to Mo ...

in July 2013. The service was supposed to resume the following month, but was delayed due to the accident investigation and resulting preventative measures. The suspension ended on March 31, 2014. In the meantime, a temporary rapid train service replaced the ''Sarobetsu.'' From the start of the revised timetable of 4 March 2017, the ''Sarobetsu'' service was re-routed to operate between Asahikawa and Wakkanai, when the '' Lilac'' was introduced between

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

and Asahikawa. Also, the KiHa 261 series sets were used to replace the ageing KiHa 183 series sets.

References

External links

''Sarobetsu'' information on JR Hokkaido official website
{{Hokkaidō transit Hokkaido Railway Company Named passenger trains of Japan Railway services introduced in 1992 ja:サロベツ (列車)