History
The Inaho was first introduced from 1 October 1969 as a limited express service operating between Ueno in Tokyo and Akita via Niigata. Trains were formed of 7-car KiHa 80 series DMUs, with one service in each direction daily.
The original schedule was as follows.
- Down: Ueno (dep. 1350) → Sakata (arr. 2028) → Akita (arr. 2200)
- Up: Akita (dep. 0925) → Sakata (arr. 1056) → Ueno (arr. 1740)
From March 1972, train formations were extended to 9 cars to cope with popularity. From October of the same year, the original DMUs were replaced by 485 series EMUs following electrification of the entire route. At the same time, service frequency was increased to two return workings daily, with one service extended to Aomori. Electrification enabled journey times between Ueno and Akita to be reduced to approximately 7 hours 30 minutes, and increasing popularity resulted in formations being lengthened to 12 cars, with non-reserved seating cars added from October 1978, and a third daily return service added from July 1979.
The typical 12-car formation was as follows, with car 1 at the Ueno end.
| Car No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | Reserved | Green | Reserved | Reserved | Reserved | Reserved | Restaurant | Reserved | Reserved | Reserved | Reserved | Reserved |
From 15 November 1982, following the opening of the Jōetsu Shinkansen, two of the return Inaho services were cut, and the third return service remaining between Ueno and Akita via Niitsu was renamed Chōkai (鳥海?). From this date, Inaho train services were reorganized to run as five return workings daily between Niigata and Akita (with one service extended to/from Aomori) using 9-car 485 series EMUs with no restaurant car facilities.
From March 1985, train formations were reduced to 6-car monoclass sets, although from November 1986, service frequency was increased from five to seven return workings daily.
Green (first class) car accommodation was added to half of one car following privatization of JNR to become JR East.
From the start of the 4 December 2010 timetable revision, services were further truncated to operate between Niigata and Akita, with some trains terminating at Sakata. Former operations between Akita and Aomori were covered instead by extended Tsugaru services.
From 2013, the 485 series EMUs used on Inaho services are scheduled to be replaced by former Fresh Hitachi E653 series sets displaced by new E657 series.
Read more about this topic: Inaho
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