Despite pressure from the Japanese government and local politicians to offer a journey time of less than four hours, the fastest Hayabusa services will complete the 862.5km journey from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station in 4h 2min.
Hayabusa will take 2h 59min to cover the 713.3km between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori, where there will be a two-minute stop to change drivers. The remaining 148.8km to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto will be covered in 1h 1min, with trains running at a maximum of 140km/h on 82km of the route, including the 53km Seikan Tunnel, which links Honshu and Hokkaido.
The service pattern for the new line was announced by the two railways in September.
