Start Shin-Osaka Track gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) First service 12 March 2011 | Electrification 1,500 V DC overhead | |
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Locale Tōkaidō Main Line, Fukuchiyama Line, San'in Main Line | ||
The Kounotori (こうのとり, Kōnotori) is a limited express train service operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Shin-Osaka and Kinosaki Onsen in Japan since 12 March 2011. It replaced the previous Kitakinki services.
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The name means "stork", and was chosen because the stork is the prefectural bird of Hyōgo, and the city of Toyooka in particular has close involvement with stork breeding programmes.
Service pattern and station stops
14 down services (Kounotori 1–27) from Shin-Osaka and 13 up services (Kounotori 2–26) to Shin-Osaka run daily, with the journey time from Shin-Osaka to Kinosaki Onsen taking approximately 2 hours 45 minutes.
Kounotori services stop at the following stations. (Stations in parentheses are not served by all trains.)
Shin-Osaka - Osaka - Amagasaki - Takarazuka - Sanda - (Shin-Sanda) - (Aino) - Sasayamaguchi - (Tanikawa) - Kaibara - (Kuroi) - Fukuchiyama - (Wadayama) - (Yōka) - (Ebara) - (Toyooka) - (Kinosaki Onsen)
Rolling stock
The following rolling stock is used on Kounotori services.
289 series EMUs converted from former dual-voltage 683 series trainsets were introduced on Kounotori services from 31 October 2015, replacing the remaining JNR-era 381 series trains.