JAPAN The limited express AKEBONO

The limited express which uses the sleeping car of these 24 series is the limited express AKEBONO. The limited express AKEBONO is a typical sleeper train which travels through the Tohoku district. AKEBONO is old Japanese and means of a beautiful scene at dawn in which the sun rises. The limited express AKEBONO started operation in July, 1970. It operated between Ueno Station and Akita Station in Tokyo. This limited express only stopped at the stations with a night time zone. That is, it did not make passengers get on and off. It was the stop for the driver's shift. Thereby, JNR were able to rationalize the business of the station of a night time zone. Now, the limited express AKEBONO runs between Ueno Station and Aomori-Station. It goes back and forth one time on the 1st. It takes about 13 hours. Now, it is a night train of the only fixed operation which connects the Tohoku district to Tokyo. The limited express Akebono used the sleeping car of the 20 series at first. Then, this train used the sleeping car of the 24 series from 1980 because the sleeping car of the 20 series was superannuated.


As a limited express, the limited express AKEBONO was a train which uses the sleeping car of the last 20 series. The model uses this limited express AKEBONO of the 1980s as a model. The present limited express AKEBONO uses 25 types of the 24 series.