Luxury bullet trains are giving airline companies a run for their money
The Hayabusa’s “Gran Class” car (Photo credit: JR Hokkaido)
Spacious leather seats on the train? They have it in Japan.
The Hokkaido Railway Co this weekend began to operate its bullet train that takes passengers from Tokyo to Hakodate on the ski resort island of Hokkaido in four hours, according to Bloomberg.
Targeting business and leisure passengers, the train ride has 18 first-class seats that cost JPY38,280 (USD339) one-way each.
Known locally as Shinkansen, the high-speed train is focused on value-added services such as a luxury lounge to stay competitive and make up for the four-hour journey. Sake is also served.
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“Four hours in a train is quite boring,” Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities Economic Research Institute, told Bloomberg. “They have to compete in other areas such as service.”
Mirroring upscale airport lounges, the luxury train lounge is operated by a credit card company called View Card Co in collaboration with JR East.
On the bullet train, a first-class leather seat measures 52 cm – bigger than a 50 cm luxury airline seat – and has a leg room of 130 cm, which is 3 cm more than a similar seat on an All Nippon Airways Co plane.
Aside from the first-class seats, there are 55 business class seats and 658 regular seats for those who don’t need luxurious amenities, according to the Singaporean The Straits Times.
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Source : property-report.com
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