JR News: New Train Reservation system by JR East!
In light of the renewal of JR East Rail Passes earlier this month, purchasing them will become much easier! From 27 June onwards, travellers can buy the passes online at the new 「JR-EAST Train Reservation」 website.
Purchasing your rail pass with a click of a button
Additional services available with the new train reservation system. (Image credit: JR East)
Previously, travellers received vouchers upon purchase, which they had to exchange for the actual pass at the ticket counter in JR stations upon arrival in Japan. They could only make seat reservations online. With the new website, on top of seat reservation, travellers can purchase rail passes and ordinary train tickets online and then collect them at the Reserved Seat Ticket Vending Machines equipped with a passport reader at selected JR stations.
Image of the new 「JR-EAST Train Reservation」 website. (Image credit: JR East)
No more long lines at the ticket counter
Rail passes can be collected at the Reserved Seat Ticket Vending Machine. (Image credit: JR East)
With the new system, travellers do not need to queue at the counter to collect the passes anymore, which was time-consuming in popular stations during peak hours. The passes, which now come in the form of machine-readable tickets, are issued right on the spot at the ticketing machines.
Reserved Seat Ticket Vending Machine with a passport reader. (Image credit: JR East)
Collect your pass and hop on the train in an instant
Moreover, travellers previously had to collect their reserved tickets by 9pm the day before boarding the train. With the new train reservation system, travellers can collect and use them even up to 6 minutes prior to boarding their train (*excluding some reservations).
Previously, travellers had to collect their passes at the ticket counter. (Image credit: JR East / Date)
Take note of the following important points for rail pass purchase and collection:
- Credit card information is required for online rail pass purchase.
- The passes can be collected only at ticketing machines equipped with a passport reader.
- Actual passports with a valid IC chip are required for pass collection at the ticketing machines.
New operating hours for reservations
Also, the 「JR-EAST Train Reservation」is available from 5am to 1:50am the following day (excluding 11:50pm to 12:10am) (Japan Standard Time). *Depending on the services, operating hours or the deadline to purchase / book may differ. For more details on the type of tickets and their respective deadlines, have a look at the summary below:
Ticket type and their respective application deadlines. (Image credit: JR East)
Choose your favourite seat, in your own language
Furthermore, the new system provides ordinary train ticket sales (for non-pass users) and seat reservation services with seat mapping where travellers can choose their preferred car and seat for the train on their ticket based on availability. Travellers can also choose from nine language settings on the website, including Chinese (traditional / simplified), Thai, and Indonesian.
Other services available on the new system. (Image credit: JR East)
More details will be out closer to the launch of the system, so stay tuned!
Header image credit: JR East / Shinoda
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