December 2002 train schedule updates: "Super Hakucho" comes

• December 2002 Schedule updates (in Japanese), JR Hokkaido press release, 20/9/02.
  (http://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/press/2002/1412daiya.html)

The re-scheduling of JR lines, including the inauguration of Tohoku Shinkansen extension to Hachinohe, will take place in December, and the companies are now releasing the details. This is from JR Hokkaido, with "Super Hakucho" as the main newcomer. It will link between Hachinohe and Hakodate with the brand-new fleet, while the rapid service "Kaikyo" and the night train "Midnight" will be withdrawn.

It is a pity that the new "Super Hakucho" cannot run at 160km/h in the Kaikyo Line (Seikan Tunnel). On this section, even 200km/h might have been in sight. Also disappointing is the fact that the fare of "Hokutosei", the night train linking Tokyo Ueno and Sapporo, will increase by around JPY 2000 because of the handing-over of the section of narrow-gauge line parallel to the Shinkansen from JR East to the "third-sector" railway companies called IGR Iwate Ginga Railway and Aoimori Railway.