We supposed that the number of trains is increased on the day of much demand which is estimated by JR companies. Tokado, Sanyo and Kyushu Shinkansen’s most frequently serviced days during winter holidays (December 27, 2019 – January 5, 2020) are December 28 for outbound trains and January 4 for inbound ones. Therefore the peak of crowding should be on these days.
JR West is selling Value Hikari Hayatoku 21 (バリューひかり早特21) which is a discount ticket for Hikari travelers between Himeji – Kokura and Hakata. This ticket is valid for Hikari 583, 580, 584 and 586. These trains are not regular service ones available every day.
JR Central announced “Family Cabins” (ファミリー車両) will be available in Nozomi trains again during coming winter holidays. Those are special cabins for families traveling with children under primary school age by Tokaido Shinkansen trains in such busiest periods. Families can be on board with crying and screaming little babies without hesitation. That may be a great option for family travelers.
On the subject of Doctor Yellow, a high-speed test train on Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen, we tried to estimate its operational schedules for this month of November 2019. Because the Doctor Yellow’s testing date has some biases, we can calculate and estimate the testing schedules with the biases of prior testing dates and days.
JR companies released the overview of special operational trains in this winter, from December 1, 2019 to February 29, 2020. According to them, many extra trains will run during morning and evening on weekdays, weekends and wnter holidays.