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Shin-Osaka station is the place where you change to/from Shinkansen. If you travel in Osaka, you may use this station at least once. All Shikansen trains stop at this station and many limited express trains on conventional lines stop or depart from this station, Shin-Osaka.

In this post, I would like to show you some images and explain about this station. You will get the information about transfer among trains.

Overview

First of all, please see Shin-Osakai station map on JR Central website.

Shin-Osaka station is composed of four levels, Shinkansen tracks on 4th floor, fare gate and concourse on 3rd floor and conventional line’s tracks on ground floor. On 2nd floor, there are some shops and restaurants. But as long as you transfer the trains in this station, you don’t see 2nd floor.

Shin-Osaka station is one station and three minutes away from Osaka station (Umeda area). But atmosphere in Shin-Osaka is totally different from Osaka station, Umeda area. Three is no huge shopping complex around Shin-Osaka station. Don’t expect shopping and food experience around Shin-Osaka station. But mostly hotel rate is cheaper than Umeda area. It takes only 3 minutes by train. If you really care about accommodation cost, Shin-Osaka may be suitable for you.

Ticket gate/Exit

There are three ticket gates, East, South and Central on 3rd floor.

If you want to exit from conventional line’s platform, you can use East exit only. Other two exit, South and Central are located in Shinkansen concourse. You cannot access to these two exits without Shinkansen ticket. If you use Japan Rail Pass, you can go through Shinkansen concourse without any extra charge. You don’t need to exchange any Shinkansen ticket. All you have to do is showing your Japan Rail Pass at Shinkansen

There is Shinkansen ticket gate in the concourse. When you transfer to/from Shinkansen, you need to go through this gate. You must have Shinkasen ticket, Japan Rail Pass, JR West Sanyo Area Pass, JR West Sanyo-Shikoku-Kyushu Pass or JR West Kansai WIDE Area Pass to access to Shinkansen platform/concourse. JR West Kansai Area Pass do NOT cover Shinaksen trains.

Tracks and platforms

There are 8 tracks / 4 platforms for conventional lines on ground floor and 7 tracks / 4 platforms for Shinkansen on 3rd floor. There are no track #1-10 in Shin-Osaka station.

Shinkansen on 3rd floor

There are seven tracks, #20-#26.

Track#	Name of line	Destination
20-22	Sanyo Shinkansen	Okayama, Hiroshima, Hakata
	Kyushu Shinkansen	Hiroshima, Hakata, Kumamoto, Kagoshima-Chuo
23-26	Tokaido Shinkansen	Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo

#20 track is mostly used for the train depart from Shin-Osaka. Trains from Tokyo that go to Okayama, Hiroshima and Hakata directly (Nozomi and Hikari) depart/arrive at track #21 and #22.

Conventional lines on Ground floor

You can get on Local commute train, Rapid service and limited express trains on conventional lines at track #11-18.

Track#	Name of line	Destination
11	■Limited Express Haruka	Direct train to Kansai airport via Tennoji. This train does not stop at Osaka station. Trains from Kansai airport stop at this platform too.
	■Limited Express Kuroshio	Direct train to Shirahama, Shingu, Kii-Katsuura via Tennoji. This train does not stop at Osaka station. Trains from Shirahama, Shingu or Kii-Katsuura stop at this platform too.
12	Twilight Express	Sapporo
	Limited Express Thunderbird	Fukui, Kanazawa, Toyama, Wakura-Onsen
	Limited Express Wide View Hida	Gero, Takayama (one round trip from Osaka a day)
	Limited Express Wide View Shinano	Matsumoto, Nagano (one round trip from Osaka a day)
	■Kyoto line	Special Rapid / Rapid train to Shin-Osaka, Takatsuki, Kyoto use this platform during peak hour.
13	■Kyoto line	Special Rapid / Rapid train to Shin-Osaka, Takatsuki, Kyoto
14	■Kyoto line	Local train to Shin-Osaka, Takatsuki, Kyoto
15	■Takarazuka line, Fukuchiyama line	Takarazuka, Shin-Sanda, Sasayamaguchi
	■Kobe line	Local train to Sannomiya, Kobe, Himeji
16	■Kobe line	Special Rapid /Rapid train to Sannomiya, Kobe, Himeji
17	■Kobe line	Special Rapid / Rapid train to Sannomiya, Kobe, Himeji use this platform during peak hour.
	Limited Express Kounotori, Super Hakuto	Fukuchiyama, Kinosaki-Onsen, Tottori
18	Limited Express Kounotori, Super Hakuto	Fukuchiyama, Kinosaki-Onsen, Tottori, Other limited express trains to Osaka

So if you go to/from Osaka, you usually use track #13-16. If you go to Kansai airport or Nanki area, like Shirahama, Shingu, go to track #11.

Access to/from Osaka station. How many minutes is enough to transfer

If you access to/from Osaka station (Umeda area), you can take any trains on conventional lines, limited express, special rapid, rapid or local. All trains stop at Shin-Osaka and takes only 3 minutes. If you use Japan Rail Pass, technically you can take limited express for even three minutes transfer without any extra charge. But special rapid, rapid or local trains are more convenient because it is more frequent and many more passenger’s door save your time to get off the trains. Anyway it is just three minutes transfer. It is not a big issue.

In regards to transfer, minimum transfer time is 10 minutes according to JR West. I totally agree with it. But if you will plan to purchase Shinkansen ticket at Shinkansen transfer gate, you may spend another 10 minutes. If you really worry to miss the train, expect to spend another 5 minutes, total 15 minutes. It is enough.

Access to/from Namba station by Osaka Subway Midousuji line

If you go to another downtown core, Namba, Osaka Subway Midousuji line is the best way to get there. You can access to Namba by JR lines. But it is a detour and JR Namba station is not located at the center of Namba area. Midousuji line Shin-Osaka station is located at 2nd level. Shinkansen Central ticket gate is the closest to subway station.

If you transfer to subway from Shinkansen train, minimum transfer time is 10 minutes. But if you tranfer from conventional line trains, you might spend another 5 minutes to transfer. The fare is 270 yen. You can take JR train to Osaka and transfer to subway at Umeda station. But you can save only 40 yen. Shin-Osaka is much easier and faster to transfer.

You may also like these posts:

• Shin-Aomori station guide. How to change the train, Shinkansen, Super Hakucho and other local trains.
• Otsuki station guide. How to transfer from JR train to Fuji Kyuko train.
• Tokyo station guide. How to change the trains, Shinkansen, Narita Express and other local trains.
• Osaka station guide. How to change JR trains, subway trains and other private railways
• Easy trip from Sendai. How to access to Matsushima by Japan Rail Pass

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2 Comments to “Shin Osaka station guide. How to change Shinkansen, Haruka, Thunderbird and local train access to Osaka, Umeda and Namba”

1. JAyre says:

   September 24, 2012 at 12:00 am

   Hi Takeshi,

   I actually really like staying at hotels around Shin-Osaka. Between it, Umeda and Kyoto, Shin-Osaka is my favourite because of the convenience of getting on the Shinkansen (or any of the limited express trains) and moving around within Osaka. Since it is still on the Midousuji Line, there are still good connections for people who want to go to Koyasan through Namba. There’s three Toyoko Inn chain hotels within walking distance of Shin-Osaka, and there is a surprisingly large amount of restaurants inside the station building to suit any taste.

   The only limited express in the area I can think of that doesn’t stop at Shin-Osaka is Hamakaze. You still have to go to Osaka to get on. However, you can just catch up to that particular service at Himeji if you need to go to Wadayama or Kinosaki Onsen by that route.

   Best regards,

   Jonathan Ayre

   Reply
   • JPRail says:

     September 24, 2012 at 12:39 pm

     Hi Jonathan,

     Shin-Osaka is the best location to catch the trains. I agree with it.
     I was afraid some readers mixed up Osaka (Umeda) with Shin-Osaka. Shin-Osaka is very popular for local business travellers because of transportation as you mentioned. Hotels are cheaper than Umeda. As long as travellers don’t expect huge downtown core, Shin-Osaka is a good location to stay.

     Cheers,

     Takeshi / JP Rail

     Reply