History
The Sakura was first introduced on 1 April 1951 as a daytime Limited express service between Tokyo and Osaka. This service was discontinued in October 1958.
The Sakura sleeping car service commenced on 20 July 1959 using 20 series sleeping cars. From March 1972, the train was upgraded with 14 series sleeping cars.
From 4 December 1999, the Sakura ran coupled with the Hayabusa service between Tokyo and Tosu. The last services ran on the evening of 28 February 2005.
From 12 March 2011, the Sakura name was revived once again for the new shinkansen services operating between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chūō using new JR West N700-7000 series and JR Kyushu N700-8000 series 8-car trainsets. Sakura trains operate once every hour between Shin-Osaka and Kagoshima-Chūō throughout the day. There are also additional Sakura services once per hour between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chuo during the morning and evening. During the middle of the day there will be two additional runs per hour: One between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chūō, and one between Hakata and Kumamoto. Some Sakura runs within the Kyushu Shinkansen are operated by 6-car 800 series trains.
Read more about this topic: Sakura (train)
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