1988, the Nostalgia Istanbul Orient Express reached to Hong Kong, passing through former East Germany, Poland, the former Soviet Union, China and Eurasian Continent.
After shipping from there, it landed in Shimomatsu, Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan, and accomplished a total of 18,000 Km passenger operation to the final destination of Tokyo. It was published in the Guinness Book of Records.
In 1988, it was the 30th anniversary of the Fuji TV, which is a famous Japanese TV company, and the first anniversary of the JA group. To commemorate it, the Orient Express’88 was operated between Paris and Tokyo using the NIOE train car by the Fuji TV and the JR East, and also by the cooperation of the transit country’s governments and railways. The official name of the project is “HITACHI culture special ORIENT EPRESS’88”.
A executive producer of Fuji TV at the time, Numata Atsuyoshi, who was in charge of the special TV program “ Dreamy Orient Express London – Istanbul, the great 3,500 km journey”, had the passion for the Orient Express and challenged to start the great historical project.
But there were some difficulties like the difference of the width of the rail and standards of each facility, negotiations with governments and railways during the Cold War and so on. For example, more than 800 railways facilities throughout Japan were upgraded for the running of the train.
The Japan’s leading steam locomotive for D51, and electric locomotives for EF58 and EF65 (1000 Series, general type) were used for the memorable train tow. Also it traveled around Japan as an organization dedicated train, and public events were held in various regions. It attracted the attention as the earliest “international train” in Japan as well. The set is very rare, because the train has not been produced anymore and will not be operated again. It is already a premium product. Future prices will rise more.
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