
JR West to run late-night New Year’s Eve trains in Keihanshin (Japan)
JR Hokkaido (Hokkaido Railway Company, Japan) will convert all limited express trains to all-reserved seating starting March 15, 2026.
Limited Express Kamui, Lilac, Soya, Sarobetsu, and Okhotsk will become fully reserved-seating. As a result, all limited express services within Hokkaido will require reserved seats.
For the trains becoming all-reserved, JR will discontinue station-sold discount tickets such as the ‘Unreserved-Seat Round-Trip Discount Ticket (S Ticket)’ and ‘Reserved-Seat Round-Trip Discount Ticket (R Ticket)’, and consolidate discounts into Ekinet-only products: ‘Limited Express Tokudane’ and the ‘Conventional Line Ticketless Limited Express Ticket (Toku-wari)’.
In addition, JR Hokkaido will launch a subscription limited express pass, ‘Limited Express e-Pass,’ which can be used together with a commuter pass for local trains and allows seat selection via smartphone. The limited express commuter pass ‘Kayo-Yell’ will become ‘Kayo-Yell+’, allowing use of vacant reserved seats and enabling seat assignments from seven days before travel at Talking Ticket Machines or at the Midori-no-Madoguchi (JR Ticket Office).