JR Special Rapid Service, most useful train among Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Himeji.

Kobe, Himeji
2011.04.24
Many passengers are waiting for Special Rapid Service in Osaka station. Special Rapid is very popular for both commuters and the travelers.

Special Rapid Service is the fastest local train that is operated between Tsuruga (=敦賀) and Kamigori (=上郡) via Kyoto (=京都), Shin-Osaka (=新大阪), Osaka (=大阪), Sannomiya (=三ノ宮), Kobe (=神戸) and Himeji (=姫路). Especially JR West compete with Hankyu (=阪急) and Keihan (=京阪) between Kyoto and Osaka, with Hankyu and Hanshin (=阪神) between Osaka and Kobe. So JR West have to offer fast and good quality of services. As a result, the time required by this train is faster than Shinkansen between Osaka and Kyoto. Since Shinkansen do not have a station in downtown Kobe, this trains is faster than Shinkansen between Osaka and Kobe too. Of course this train is fully covered by Japan Rail Pass. Let’s see the details.

Route, schedule and travel time

Special Rapid Service runs the route and stop at these stations in the map below:

Operation route map (Click to view large)

In day time, Special Rapid Service train runs every 15 minutes between Yasu and Himeji. Some of this train services are extended service to Mabara, Nagahama, Tsuruga to east, and Banshu-Ako, Aboshi and Kamigori to west.

Find your hotels in 218 cities throughout Japan!!!

Hotels in Kobe
Hotels in Himeji

When you move between Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji, this train service is a primary choice. If you take Shinkansen from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka, it takes only 13 minutes. It seems to be much faster than Shin-Osaka. But you have to change trains at Shin-Osaka if you go to somewhere in Osaka. You have to spend 10 more minutes to transfer at Shin-Osaka. Unless your destination is Shin-Osaka, Special Rapid is more convenient.

If you go to Kobe, it takes 15 minutes by Shinkansen. But Shin-Kobe station on Shinkansen is not located in downtown. You need to take subway to Sannomiya.

Shin-Kobe station guide. How to change the Shinkansen and Kobe city subway.
If you access to Kobe or leave from Kobe by the Shinkansen, this post shows you everything you need. You can find how to change the Shinkansen and subway with lots of photos.
jprail.com
2017.08.12

Even in case of going to Himeji, it may be very close. It takes 30 minutes by Shinkansen and takes 1 hour by Special Rapid. But if you take Shinkansen, you must get Shin-Osaka first. And Shinkansen between Shin-Osaka and Himeji does not run very frequently. It depends on your schedule in this case. If Shinkansen’s timetable fits in your schedule, take Shinkansen. Otherwise take Special Rapid Service.

Accommodation

Special Rapid Service is operated by 223 or 225 series. 225 is newer but the seat layout and the interior are same.

Images

Interior
Seat layout
The washroom is equipped in this train set.
Information screen is equipped and it is shown in a few languages.

In these above photos, the train is empty. But please see the photo below. This is the real shot. This is not the morning and evening peak times. It is a daytime scene. But this train is very busy even other than the peak hours.

Comments

  1. Elroy says:
    March 15, 2016 at 7:41 am

    Hi good evening,

    i will be travelling to Osaka and Kyoto from Tokyo from 3rd April to 9th April and back to Tokyo from 9th April to 16th of April.

    Can you recommend me how many days of JR pass should i buy and what type of JR pass should i buy?

    Due to i am unable to find a hotel in Kyoto as most of it will bust my budget, i will be travelling from Osaka to Kyoto daily for 3 days, My place of stay nearest station will be JR Sakuranomiya station. Could you recommend me a best route to Kyoto daily?

    Could you tell me where can i find the a daily timetable or operating hours for the trains, so i will not miss the last train back to Osaka daily.

    Would be nice if you could recommend me some place of interest to visit for Osaka and Kyoto.

    Thanks in advance for the help, hope hear from you soon.

    Best regards,

    Elroy 

  2. Rudolph Sada says:
    March 13, 2016 at 4:21 pm

    Takeshi-San,

    Since my last email exchange w you, I want to let you know that your tips have been very helpful. Presently I am in Kanazawa and will be arriving in Kyoto on 16 Mar2016.
    I have reserved my 5 days Kansai Hiroshima JR Pass to be picked up in Kyoto Station. My pass will start 19 Mar as we are leaving back to San Diego on 23 Mar. On the 20 Mar we will use it to go to our Shin Osaka hotel with our luggage . We plan to go Hiroshima, Himejii and Osaka city during our lodging in RemmShinOsaka hotel.
    Please advise about what trains to use from Kyoto to Shin Osaka , Special Rapid Service? I assume to Hiroshima and Himejii we will use ShinKansen. Another question is to go to Kansai airport from ShinOsaka, with Haruka express? with our luggages preferably not during crowded time. The time best to travel with these luggages for Special Rapid service Kyoto to ShinOsaka and HarukaLimited ShinOsaka to Kansai airport?

    Thank you

    Warmest,

    Rudy Sada

    • Takeshi / JPRail.com says:
      March 13, 2016 at 6:20 pm

      Hi Rudy san,

      You can take either Special Rapid and Haruka from Kyoto to Osaka. Special Rapid runs every 15 minutes and Haruka runs usually once an hour. So Special Rapid is more convenient but it’s always busy and crowded, even daytime. So if you really want to avoid it, you can take Haruka. Haruka is not a commute train. You don’t need to care about the time to travel.

      Haruka is also the best choice to get KIX from Shin-Osaka.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  3. Deepa says:
    February 25, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    Traveling to Japan for 8 days
    Tokyo Hakone Kyoto Osaka Hiroshima 5 night in Kyoto will do Hiroshima Osaka from Kyoto
    Will get romance car and Hakone pass staying night in Hakone
    What will be best jar pass or individual tickets and do I need other passes for metro there if you can suggest which trains to take for maximum use of time.
    Thanks

  4. Apmelia Suhaimi says:
    January 27, 2016 at 2:08 am

    Dear Takeshi san,

    I’m looking for the best way to travel from Kyoto (Tobakaido Station) to Osaka (Nippombashi Station), do you have any suggestion?
    Me and friends will carry luggage too. So we are looking for the most convenient route to transfer.
    Thank you.

  5. Adilah says:
    December 11, 2015 at 12:55 am

    Hi Takeshi-san,

    I will be travelling around the Kansai region for about a week and I’m not sure whether I’m going to be fully utilising my transport pass.

    Day 1: KIX–Namba
    Transport: Airport Limo to Umeda and Single Journey Tix to Namba)

    Day 2: Osaka –Kawaramachi — Arashiyama (Sagano Scenic Railway/ Tenryuji Temple/ Kitasaga Bamboo Grove) — Kyoto Station
    Transport: Kansai Thru Pass

    Using the Kansai Thru Pass, how do I get to the Sagano Railway? I read that it is closer to JR lines. Do I need to purchase additional transport card?

    Day 3: Kawaramachi — Kinkakuji — Southern Higashiyama/ Kiyomizudera — Nanzan

    Transport : ?

    Day 4: Kyoto–Nara–Kyoto–Osaka (Umeda)
    Transport: Kansai Thru Pass

    Day 5: Umeda (Osaka- Hankyu) — Himeji–Kobe (Mount Rokkan/Arima Onsen)–Osaka
    Transport: JR West Kansai pass

    Do I need to purchase additional transport card for the transport around Kobe?

    Day 6: Osaka (Umeda) — Minoo Park–Osaka Castle–Umeda Sky Building–Namba

    Transport: ICOCA card? Kansai Thru Pass? Single Journey Fare?

    Thank you! Sorry for the multiple questions.

  6. Candyce says:
    December 7, 2015 at 12:41 am

    Hello, I’m thinking of dedicating one day to visit Himeji Castle and Kokoen Garden then head to Kobe for Kobe beef. The restaurant that I’m intending to go to is Steakland, which is located directly opposite Kobe-Sannomiya Station. Does JR Special Rapid Train goes to Kobe-Sannomiya Station? If not, what’s the best way to travel from Himeji to Kobe-Sannomiya Station with Kansai pass?

  7. Azahir says:
    December 6, 2015 at 8:35 pm

    Takeshi-san,

    Thank you for your help.
    I’m travelling with 4 others and all of us have big bags. (The normal luggage that we check in when flying in plane).
    1. Is there space to put our bags in Special Rapid Service trains?
    2. Since this is a normal train between Shin-Osaka and Kyoto, when is the off peak time and not many people in the train?

    Thank you again.
    Azahir

  8. Annie says:
    December 6, 2015 at 7:30 pm

    Dear Takeshi san,

    May I know if I can have meal in the special rapid train from Kobe to Kyoto?

  9. tan k c says:
    December 4, 2015 at 7:13 pm

    Hi Takeshi-San

    thank you for doing a valuable service especially for first time visitor like me. But I am still very confused by the railwork system in the Kansai area.

    I am staying in the Kansai Stargate Airport hotel, think the station nearby is Rinku.

    I intend to go to: Namba Area, Dontoburi, Umeda and later
    to Universal Studios Japan and to Nara Deer Park.

    Is it better to get JR Kansai Area Pass at Yen 6300 for 4 days for all my travels above?

    or is it better to get other rail pass? appreciate if you can recommend, thank you

  10. Samantha says:
    December 3, 2015 at 9:50 am

    Hi,
    Do you happen to know whether does all of the trains running the JR Kansai Airport Rapid line to Osaka have toilets onboard all of their trains? Or only some?

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