JR East ends sales on Yamabiko high-speed trains

East Japan Railway Co. says that as of March 15, it will no longer sell food or other products on high speed Yamabiko trains on the Tohoku Shinkansen line.

These sales will end completely on the Yamabiko service, which mainly connects Tokyo Station with Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture or Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture, JR East said Monday.

In addition, on-board sales will no longer be available from March 16 on Komachi trains of the Akita Shinkansen line for the section connecting Morioka stations to Akita and on certain limited express trains, including the Odoriko and Kusatsu trains, said JR East.

Sales in the trains are down, with many products now available in station and vending machine shops, JR East officials said, adding that the decision also reflected labor shortages.

Hokkaido Railway Co. also announced on Monday that March 15 would be the last day that on-board sales are available on the Hayabusa and Hayate trains running on the Hokkaido Shinkansen line between Shin-Aomori Station in Hokkaido Prefecture. .

JR Hokkaido also scheduled to stop sales of its Super Hokuto Limited express trains at the end of the month, sales on board will end completely on regular trains operating in the company's service area.

For the section between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori for Hayabusa and Hayate, and the Tokyo-Morioka section for Komachi trains, the list of products for sale on board will be reduced as of March 16th, with the sale of bento, sandwiches , souvenirs and other items. ready to stop, said JR East. Items such as hot coffee and non-alcoholic beverages will remain available.

During FY 2017, sales on board trains decreased by 5% over the previous year, according to JR East.

Kyushu Railway Co. has already announced that its Mizuho and Sakura high-speed trains will not be offering on-board sales as of March 16.