Chuo Rapid Line’s first-class cars are extra fancy this month.
Earlier this year, East Japan Railway Company. AKA JR East, added Green Cars to Tokyo’s Chuo Rapid Line. The cars themselves keep the same orange-striped silver color as the other carriages on the Chuo Rapid Line, though, since Green Cars are what JR calls its premium cars, essentially the trains’ first-class section.
Unlike standard commuter train cars on the Chuo Rapid Line, with their bench seats and overhead straps for standing passengers to hang on to, the Green Car has plush, individual seats with fold-out trays and pouches in which to store your personal items during your ride. It’s definitely a more comfortable way to get around Tokyo, and this month things are getting extra fancy inside select Chuo Rapid Line Green Cars, because they’re hosting live musical performances.
On Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays in November, among the trains’ Green Car passengers will be a pair of professional musicians, performing a medley of songs on the flute, violin, acoustic guitar, clarinet, harp, saxophone, mandolin, and viola. While the instruments are primarily classical, the songs they play aren’t limited to traditional orchestral pieces, as some of the concerts have included music from the anime films of Studio Ghibli.
The performances are held in the first-floor seating area of Car 5, with the performers sitting on both sides of the aisle in the middle rows. This leaves 30 seats for other passengers/audience members.
The performances will be held on one round-trip train per day on Saturdays and Sundays, with the train departing Toyoda Station at 1:41 p.m. and heading towards Tokyo Station, and then running the same route in reverse by leaving Tokyo Station at 2:42 p.m. The musical performance itself takes place during the middle portion of the route, between Tachikawa and Shinjuku Stations. That means you could, theoretically, enjoy the complete concert by only riding for that part of the route, which is about 40 minutes. However, Green Car seats on the Chuo Rapid Line are unreserved (i.e. a Green Car ticketholder can claim any unoccupied seat), so if you want to make sure of getting a seat on the first floor of Car 5, getting on at Tokyo or Toyoda Station is the safest plan.
Source: JR East via Traicy, Twitter/@atsushi_akechi
Top image: JR East
Insert images: SoraNews24, JR East
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