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

Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Nara
Conventional lines platform (front), Shinkansen terminal (back) (C) Outside view of the Shin Osaka station/Ariake

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

Click to view large.

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 the atmosphere in Shin-Osaka is totally different from Osaka station, Umeda area. Shin-Osaka station has lots of restaurants and shops but it is much fewer than Osaka and Umeda stations.

On the other hand, the average hotel rate is cheaper than Umeda area. It takes only 3 minutes by a local train. If your budget is tight, Shin-Osaka may suit your trip plan.

You can find everything you need about Shin-Osaka station in the movie below too:

Ticket gate/Exit

Shinkansen ticket window is located beside Shinkansen ticket gate. If you use non reserved seat by Japan Rail Pass, you don’t need anything. But if you want to book reserved seat in last minutes, you can do it here. (C) JR Shin-Osaka Station / Hyougushi

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 Shinkansen 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 Shinkansen trains.

Tracks and platforms

There are 10 tracks / 5 platforms for conventional lines on ground floor and 7 tracks / 4 platforms for Shinkansen on 4th floor.

Shinkansen on 4th floor

There are seven tracks, #20-#27.

Track#Name of line / Destination
20-22The Sanyo Shinkansen and the Kyushu Shinkansen for Okayama, Hiroshima, Hakata, Kumamoto, Kagoshima-Chuo
23-27The Tokaido Shinkansen for Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo

Conventional lines on Ground floor

Conventional lines platforms (C) JP Rail

You can get on a local commute train, a rapid service train and a limited express train on the conventional lines at track #1-10.

Track#Name of line / Destination
1,2■ Osaka Higashi line local train for Hanaten, Kuhoji
The limited express Haruka and The limited express Kuroshio for Kyoto
3The limited express Haruka for Kansai Airport
The limited express Kuroshio for Wakayama, Shirahama, Shingu
4The limited Express Thunderbird for Fukui, Kanazawa, Wakura-Onsen
The limited express Wide View Hida for Gero, Takayama
Special Rapid / Rapid train for Takatsuki, Kyoto (during peak hour only)
5,6■ Kyoto line local train, rapid and Special Rapid for Takatsuki, Kyoto, Maibara, Tsuruga
7,8■ Kobe line local train, rapid and Special Rapid for Sannomiya, Kobe, Himeji
■ Takarazuka line for Takarazuka, Shin-Sanda, Sasayamaguchi
9,10The limited express Konotori for Fukuchiyama, Kinosaki-Onsen
■ The limited express Super Hakuto for Himeji, Tottori, Kurayoshi
Special Rapid / Rapid train for Sannomiya, Kobe, Himeji (during peak hour only)

Access to/from Osaka station and minimum connecting time at Shin-Osaka station

If you access to/from Osaka station (Umeda area), you can take any trains on conventional lines, the limited express, special rapid, rapid or local. All trains stop at Shin-Osaka and takes only 3 minutes to get Osaka station. Special rapid, rapid and local trains run very frequently. You can hop on the train to get Osaka.

In regards to transfer, the minimum transfer time is 10 minutes according to JR West. But if you will plan to purchase the Shinkansen ticket on the spot, you may spend another 10 minutes. If you really worry to miss the train, expect to spend another 5 minutes, total 15 minutes. However you can purchase the Shinkansen ticket at any major JR stations in advance.

Access to/from Namba station by Osaka Subway Midosuji line

Midousuji line can be seen from Shinkansen platform. It is subway line but it does not run underground in Shin-Osaka. Midousuji line station is located just under Shinkansen platforms.
Midosuji line can be seen from Shinkansen platform. It is subway line but it does not run underground in Shin-Osaka. Midosuji line station is located just under Shinkansen platforms.

If you go to another downtown core, Namba, Osaka Subway Midosuji 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. Midosuji line Shin-Osaka station is located at 2nd level. Shinkansen Central ticket gate is the closest to subway station. I show you how to transfer between Shinkansen and subway Midosuji line below.

If you transfer to subway from Shinkansen train, minimum transfer time is 10 minutes. But if you transfer from the conventional line trains, you might spend another 5 minutes to transfer. T

How to transfer to/from Subway Midosuji line

Use Central exit.

2015 spring Japan trip 1280
2015 spring Japan trip 1281

Once you get out from Central exit, you will find the sign of subway on your left hand.

2015 spring Japan trip 1282

Follow the signage and go down.

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There are many signage and just follow.

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2015 spring Japan trip 1287

You will find subway ticket gate soon.

2015 spring Japan trip 1289

It takes 5 minutes to transfer from ticket gate to ticket gate. It is quite easy.

Comments

  1. Budi San says:

    Hello ….

    I stay at Hiroshima and having departure flight at KIX for 11:00 am (International Flight)

    Is it convenience or too risk to choose following itinerary:
    – 06:26 – 08:04 / Shinkansen Hikari 448 for Hiroshima – Shin Osaka (arrive track 22, departure track 03
    – 08-17 – 09:13 / Ltd Express Haruka for Shin Osaka – Kansai Airport

    Does the transfer time is enough to make transfer from track 22 to track 03 by bringing luggage with medium size?
    Or should I have to stay at Osaka prior my departure??

    Looking forward for your further advise and guide line.

    Thank you.

    Best regards,
    Budi San

    • Hi Budi,

      If I were you, I don’t take this option because it’s too risky. Transfer time is okay but even if you make it, you will be Kansai airport within 2 hours to the departure time. Train operation in Japan is very reliable. But it’s not 100%. If the train delay, you will miss the flight. I recommend you to stay overnight in Osaka.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  2. Eunice says:

    Dear Takashi,

    We are travelling from Kyoto to Namba oriental hotel.

    I read that the best route is JR kyotoline on Special rapid train, then transfer at Shin-osaka to Midosuji subway, to Namba station. Is this correct?

    1. train tickets – I need to buy all tickets (including the transfer to Namba station) at kyoto station? If so, then we are limited by the timings.

    2. The special rapid train do not have reserved seats tickets? There is a possibility of no seats? We are travelling with luggages and 2 kids. I am worried of juggling all these at once.

    Thank you.

  3. Raymond Hutagalung says:

    We want to change at Shin Osaka to Haruka for KIX.
    If we arrived at Shinkansen track no. 26, will it be 19 minutes enough to reach platform no. 3 for Haruka ? With us we have elderly who can only walk in slow pace.

  4. Som-O says:

    Hi,

    I’ll arrive at track 1 and need to transfer to track 4 within 9 minutes. Do I need to use the stairway / elevator to go up/down or are they in the same platform?

    Thanks

  5. Happy YU says:

    Hi
    We are arriving from KIX via Haruka and will transfer to Hiroshima via Shinkasen, because of the long trip, we would like to either buy some bento or if we have enough time we would like to go to a restaurant in Shin-Osaka station. Do we have to exit the platform first and re-enter via the Central Entrance Gate for Shinkasen? Is 30min enough to just for buying some bento?

    Best Regards

    Happy

    • Hi Happy,

      I don’t think 30 minutes is enough to eat in the restaurant. But you can buy some bento in Shin-Osaka station. You don’t need to exit because there are lots of choices inside the ticket gate. When you arrive in Shin-Osaka by Haruka, just go up by stairs or escalators. You will find the lots of stores before entering Shinkansen ticket gate. The following link is shown in Japanese. But you can find lots of photos. You will find huge number of bentos are available in the station.
      https://onigiriface.com/eki-marche-shinosaka-ekiben.html

      After purchasing bento, you can proceed to Shinkansen ticket gate.

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  6. Gloria says:

    When i change from one platform to another platform in same station, do i need to go out of the gate of the first platform and then go into the gate of another platform? Or i just need to get off from the first train and walk straight to another train?

  7. PS says:

    I’ll arrive Shin-Osaka station at track #8 (time : 11:08), which come from Maibara via JR Special Rapid service for HIMEJI. And I’ve to transfer at track #3 (time: 11:15) for get LTD EXP Kuroshio 9.
    Is it enough time to transfer if we’ve luggage? How long does it take for transfer?
    Thanks in advance for kind advice.

  8. damian williams says:

    we arrive at track 20 and depart track 25 only 5 minutes later. How long does it take to get from one to another??

  9. Esther says:

    Hi Takeshi,

    I take haruka from kix and arrived at track 11 shin osaka station. Then i take thunderbird to kanazawa station, departure track 12.

    Did i must go down/ up stairs to change between track 11 to 12 ?

    Thank you in advance.

  10. Mascot says:

    Hi

    If I am going to Tokyo (3days)-> Osaka / Kyoto (5 days) -> depart at Kansai Intl Airport, do you think I should buy a 7 days JR pass?

    Thanks

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