COVID-19: JR Group cancels Extra Shinkansen services from April 24 due to low demand
East Japan Railway Company (JR East) has officially announced its decision to cancel all Extra Shinkansen services from Friday (24 April), following the state of emergency declared by the Japanese Government over the COVID-19 pandemic. Other rail companies in Japan Railways Group (JR Group) have made similar announcements this week.
Extra Shinkansen services, referred to as 臨時列車 (rinji-ressha) in Japanese, are additional train services that run along regular shinkansen services to ease the flow of high passenger traffic, especially during holiday seasons. As the nation anticipates the Golden Week holiday coming up in May, the JR Group is facing a sharp decline in ridership as people are increasingly exercising refrain from going out following the pandemic.
JR East has previously announced the cancellation of all Extra Shinkansen services through the month of May. Following the latest announcement, the cancellation of services will come into effect earlier than previously announced, starting this Friday. The company has also stated that passengers who have purchased tickets will be given a full refund.
Similarly, West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) has cancelled their respective Extra Shinkansen services until 30 June.
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