Photo/Illutration Momo Ito poses at Shin-Omura Station in Nagasaki Prefecture on Sept. 23 after completing the “longest one-way train trip” in Japan. (Tetsuya Ishikura)

OMURA, Nagasaki Prefecture--The newly opened Shin-Omura Station here has been thrust into the spotlight among rail buffs as the new final stop on the “longest one-way train trip” in Japan.

The opening of the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Line on Sept. 23 extended the journey, achievable on a single ticket, for the first time in 33 years.

Shortly before 9 p.m. on Sept. 23, Momo Ito, a “railway celebrity” among trainspotters, arrived at Shin-Omura Station to complete the new route from Hokkaido that covered 10,700.7 kilometers over 24 days.

“I was stranded for two days midway through the route due to a typhoon, but it was a luxurious trip as I made it in time for the opening day,” she said. “I’m happy that I also had a chance to ride the Kamome, the new bullet train on the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Line.”

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The new “longest one-way train trip” with a single ticket connects Wakkanai Station in Hokkaido and Shin-Omura Station in Kyushu. (Provided by Takaya Kasai)

Over the past 50 years, hard-core train buffs have plotted the longest one-way trips around the nation using some of the 4,000 or so Japan Railway (JR) stations. But there is a “rule.”

The travelers must use a single “one-way ticket” for a continuous fare calculation, which does not allow them to stop at the same station or go through the same route twice.

The passengers must keep transferring to other trains on the extensive railway network. The one-way trip ends when they arrive at a station they have already passed through.

Only a limited number of enthusiasts have lived out the dream of completing the longest route, which requires frequent stopovers and nearly a month of travel.

The ticket alone costs about 90,000 yen ($620), and then there are accommodation expenses.

The previous record was said to be an approximately 10,682-km journey starting at Wakkanai Station on the Soya Line of Hokkaido Railway Co. (JR Hokkaido) in the northernmost main island. It ended at Hizen-Yamaguchi Station on the Nagasaki Line of Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) in Saga Prefecture.

After entering the main island of Kyushu, the route passed through Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Fukuoka prefectures.

It would swing west at Shin-Tosu Station in Saga Prefecture and pass through Isahaya and Haiki stations in Nagasaki Prefecture. The final stop, Hizen-Yamaguchi Station, had its name changed to Kohoku Station on Sept. 23.

After the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Line opened, Takeo-Onsen Station, located between Haiki and Kohoku stations, was connected to the new line.

A transfer to a bullet train at Takeo-Onsen Station and riding it to Shin-Omura Station added about 18 km to the previously longest route.

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A ceremony celebrates the opening of the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen Line at Shin-Omura Station in Nagasaki Prefecture on Sept. 23. (Pool)

The city of Omura is happy about the development.

“With the first change in 33 years, Shin-Omura Station has created such a buzz among rail buffs,” Omura Mayor Hiroshi Sonoda said at a news conference in August.

The city government is presenting a special certificate to those who complete the new longest one-way train trip.

The new route, however, is not the longest one-way trip in Japan’s history of train travel.

Travel writer Shunzo Miyawaki once wrote in a book that he took a one-way train trip in 1978 that took about two months to complete.

Starting at the now-defunct Hiroo Station in Hokkaido and ending at Makurazaki Station in Kagoshima Prefecture, the route covered 13,319 km, almost equivalent to the diameter of the Earth, he wrote.

Railway network realignments have changed the dynamics of the “competition.”

The island of Shikoku is no longer part of the longest route because it is connected with the main island of Honshu by a single line.

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