East Japan Railway Company

JR East aims to achieve a service that seamlessly handles everything from customer interaction to ticket issuance by the early 2030s, and will begin a proof-of-concept trial using generative AI at its Midori no Madoguchi ticket counters on the 20th. The trial will run at Tachikawa Station from the 20th to the 22nd and at Omiya Station from the 23rd to the 25th, with two dialogue booths equipped with generative AI installed at each station to evaluate speech recognition accuracy amid station noise and dialogue stability. Actual ticket issuance will be handled by station staff, with the goal of smoothing multilingual guidance and reducing waiting times.

Central Japan Railway Company and West Japan Railway Company will begin offering top-class private rooms called 'Supreme Class' on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines starting in October. This marks the first introduction of private rooms on the Tokaido Shinkansen since the retirement of the 100 Series trains 23 years ago, aiming to provide a premium service that surpasses Green Car. Two-person private rooms will be installed in Car 7, featuring reclining seats and a sofa, with a space equivalent to three Green Car seats. A one-way fare between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka will be 60,790 yen per adult, which is 41,400 yen more than Green Car. Fully private single rooms will be set up in Car 10, equipped with an electronic lock door and offering drinks and snacks from along the railway line. The former 100 Series private rooms lacked adjustable lighting and air conditioning, but as travel demand diversifies in the wake of the pandemic, semi-private rooms are also planned for the next fiscal year. Senior researcher Kazuhiro Fukushima of the private think tank Sompo Institute Plus analyzes that this is an experiment to explore new roles for the Shinkansen as high-speed customers shift to the maglev Chuo Shinkansen after its opening. East Japan Railway Company is also moving to propose travel where the journey itself is the purpose, with plans to operate the limited express train 'Luna Azure' including nighttime runs from the next fiscal year.