Hello Kitty turns to high speed rail transport – Hello Kitty Shinkansen arriving soon!

On this blog, you may have noticed that I write about Hello Kitty every now and again when it comes to transit matters. This is completely at my own will (and as we know, she’s a very business minded kitten. Even if she weighs three apples).

Well, Hello Kitty has struck a deal with JR West (West Japan Railway) to bring her to the Shinkansen network.

Hello Kitty x JR West – Image – JR West.

The plans call for a Series 500 Shinkansen to be re-branded and wrapped, and will run on the Sanyo Shinkansen line between Shin-Osaka Station (Osaka) to Hakata Station (Fukuoka).

The 8 car train will have the usual passenger accommodations, with Car 1 showing regional attractions and Car 2 decorated into an area which JR West calls “decorates fashionably for everyone to enjoy”.

So, how will the train look. Very, very… pink.

And yes. There’s a site to visit and see what she offers at http://www.jr-hellokittyshinkansen.jp/

Hello Kitty will also be advertising the regions the train will be travelling through to promote the areas – in the press examples, she’s showing off Tottori and Shimane along the route of the Sanyo Shinkansen.

Hello Kitty’s Series 500 will be operating from Summer 2018, replacing the existing Shinkansen:Evangelion Project which is due to be withdrawn from May 2018.

And yes, there’s a video.

The 500 series is used on the Komada stopping services between Shin-Osaka to Hakata (not to be confused with the Komada service operated by JR Central on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen). Thus, this train should be covered on the JR Rail Pass and certain JR West Rail Passes

For fans of Hello Kitty and needing to travel in Japan at high speed – welcome aboard!

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