Hokuriku Shinkansen (Kanazawa–Tsuruga Extension)

An approximately 125-kilometre shinkansen extension that opened on 16 March 2024, adding six stations — Komatsu, Kaga-Onsen, Awara-Onsen, Fukui, Echizen-Takefu and Tsuruga — and bringing Fukui Prefecture into Japan's high-speed rail network. Tokyo–Fukui now takes as little as 2 hours 51 minutes.

Fukui Joins the Shinkansen Network

On 16 March 2024, the Hokuriku Shinkansen extended southwest from Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture to Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture, covering a new section of approximately 125 kilometres. Six stations were newly opened along the route: Komatsu, Kaga-Onsen, Awara-Onsen, Fukui, Echizen-Takefu and Tsuruga. With the opening, Tokyo–Fukui shrank to a minimum of 2 hours 51 minutes and Tokyo–Tsuruga to a minimum of 3 hours 8 minutes. Fukui Prefecture, which had long stood outside Japan’s shinkansen network, finally gained a direct high-speed connection to the capital.

The Hokuriku Shinkansen had already reached Kanazawa in March 2015, bringing well-documented economic benefits to Ishikawa and Toyama. The push to extend the line southwest to Fukui and Tsuruga was a long-standing regional priority, but construction ran over schedule and over budget. According to Japan’s Board of Audit, the final cost of the Kanazawa–Tsuruga section reached approximately 1.6779 trillion yen, substantially above the original estimate. Despite these difficulties, the spring 2024 opening was widely seen as the fulfilment of a long-standing aspiration for the region.

A New Transfer at Tsuruga

The extension came with a significant operational change. On the same day the new shinkansen section opened, the limited-express services that had connected Osaka and Nagoya with the Hokuriku region — “Thunderbird” and “Shirasagi” — ceased running east of Tsuruga. Passengers travelling between Osaka or Nagoya and Fukui, Kanazawa or Toyama must now transfer between the shinkansen and a limited express at Tsuruga Station.

Tsuruga was designed to accommodate this transfer within a single building, with the shinkansen and limited-express platforms on different floors connected by lifts and escalators. The physical proximity of the platforms reduces walking time, but the need for a transfer is unavoidable. For travellers accustomed to a single through train between Osaka and Kanazawa — a journey that required no changes — the new arrangement introduced an extra step that drew criticism from some passengers in the months after opening.

A permanent solution awaits the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tsuruga westward to Osaka, a project estimated to cost several trillion yen with a construction period spanning decades. No firm start date for that phase had been confirmed at the time of writing.

Summary

The Hokuriku Shinkansen Kanazawa–Tsuruga extension opened on 16 March 2024, adding approximately 125 kilometres and six new stations to Japan’s high-speed rail network. Tokyo–Fukui now takes as little as 2 hours 51 minutes and Tokyo–Tsuruga as little as 3 hours 8 minutes. The simultaneous withdrawal of through limited-express services east of Tsuruga reshaped rail travel across the Hokuriku region, introducing a new transfer point while connecting Fukui to Tokyo by shinkansen for the first time. The white carriages crossing the Fukui countryside mark the region’s entry into a new chapter of high-speed travel.

Planning a trip to Kanazawa, Fukui, or Tsuruga? Rakuten Travel has a wide selection of hotels along the route.

Related: Tokaido Shinkansen / Linear Chuo Shinkansen