News Doctor Yellow tickets snapped up in a wink

[thomas]

A dream come true for train enthusiasts: a ride on Doctor Yellow, JR's Shinkansen track-testing trains.

It will be a rare treat for visitors considering that even the operation schedules for such trains are not normally disclosed to the public. Sightings of the trains are said to bring good luck. Next week, a lucky group of passengers will be allowed to board Doctor Yellow. JR Tokai's Doctor Yellow is based on the 700 Series Shinkansen, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) operates the East i, which is based on the E3 Series Shinkansen.

JR Tokai will allow paid visitors to board Doctor Yellow on 22 and 23 March. Doctor Yellow will make one inbound journey and one outbound journey between Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station each day. This will be the first time for Doctor Yellow to run with passengers since JR Tokai was created through the division and privatization of Japanese National Railways in 1987. Passengers will be able to see test equipment onboard and the "observation dome," a room on the train's roof that inspects overhead wires while Doctor Yellow is running. The ticket price is 23,620 JPY (USD176), or around 9,000 JPY more than the Nozomi Shinkansen ticket price for the journey between Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station. The tickets are limited to adults, and 50 passengers will be able to experience the test train for each journey, meaning a total of 200 lucky train aficionados. JR Tokai received about 100 times more applications than available tickets on its website over five days from 24 February.

Tickets snapped up to board Doctor Yellow, East i test trains | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis