JR Express Train Passengers Up 5 Pct during Golden Week

Tokyo, May 7 (Jiji Press)--The total number of passengers on Shinkansen and other express trains during the Golden Week holiday period from late April to early May rose 5 pct from a year earlier to 14,766,000, data from six Japan Railways Group companies showed Thursday.

The data, covering 46 major routes across the country, between April 24 and Wednesday, marked the third-highest level after 2019 and 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

An official of East Japan Railway Co. said that people “may have found it easier to string together longer holidays on this year’s calendar.”

The number of passengers climbed 4 pct for Central Japan Railway Co.'s Tokaido Shinkansen line and 7 pct for West Japan Railway Co.'s Sanyo Shinkansen line, both surpassing the levels a year before, during the 2025 World Exposition in the western Japan city of Osaka.

Among the six companies, only Hokkaido Railway Co. posted a decline, with passenger numbers falling 5 pct. The number of passengers on limited express trains in the Sapporo-Iwamizawa section on a conventional line sagged 19 pct. “It may have been affected by the shift to the fully reserved seating system in March,” an official said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]