Kodama (train)

Kodama

JR West 8-car 500 series on a Kodama service at Himeji Station, August 2009
Overview
Service type	Shinkansen
Locale	Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Sanyō Shinkansen
First service	1958 (Limited express) 1 October 1964 (Shinkansen)
Current operator(s)	JR Central, JR West
Route
Start	Tokyo
End	Hakata
On-board services
Class(es)	Green/standard
Catering facilities	Trolley service
Technical
	500/700/N700 series
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	25 kV AC overhead
Operating speed	285 km/h (175 mph)

Kodama (こだま^?, "Echo") is one of the three train services running on the Tōkaidō/Sanyō Shinkansen. Kodama trains stop at all stations, making Kodama the slowest Shinkansen service for trips between major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. The Kodama trains are used primarily for travel to and from smaller cities such as Atami. Travelers between major cities generally take the Nozomi or Hikari services, which make fewer stops. The name of the train comes from the Japanese word kodama, meaning "echo".

Kodama trains generally run over shorter distances than Nozomi and Hikari trains. Typical Kodama runs include Tokyo - Nagoya / Shin-Osaka, Tokyo - Mishima / Shizuoka / Hamamatsu, Mishima / Shizuoka / Nagoya - Shin-Osaka, and Shin-Osaka / Okayama / Hiroshima - Hakata as well as some shorter late-night runs.

The trainsets used for Kodama service are the same 700 series, and N700 series trains used for the Hikari and Nozomi services. Older 100 series and 300 series trains were also used for Kodama services on the Sanyō Shinkansen until they were withdrawn in 2012. In December 2008, reconfigured 500 series trains entered Kodama service to replace the withdrawn Sanyō Shinkansen 0 series trains. Many Sanyō Shinkansen Kodama services continue to and from Hakata-Minami on the Hakata-Minami Line.