Blue Train (Japan)

Blue Trains (ブルートレイン, burū torein) in Japan were long-distance sleeper trains, nicknamed as such for the color of the train cars. They consisted of 20-, 12-,583-, 14- or 24-series sleeper cars, and connected major destinations within Japan across long distances. For a time, other routes were served by a fleet of newer limited-express overnight trains, which were not blue.

Services slowly began to be eliminated as the Shinkansen (bullet train) network spread and as regional airports opened in the 1980s and 1990s; afterwards, five Blue Train services were eliminated in 2008 and 2009, six more between 2010 and 2015, and the final services in 2016. Aside from luxury "land cruise" excursion trains such as Seven Stars in Kyushu,^[1] this has left just two overnight express trains (the combined Sunrise Izumo and Sunrise Seto) as the only trains in Japan with sleeping accommodation.