Rakuraku Biwako

The Rakuraku Biwako (らくラクびわこ) is a commuter limited express train service operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Osaka and Maibara or Kusatsu in Japan since June 2003. It replaced the previous Biwako Liner services.

Service pattern
, one weekday morning service (Rakuraku Biwako 1) runs from Maibara to Osaka, and two weekday evening services (Rakuraku Biwako 2 & 4) run from Osaka to Maibara and Kusatsu respectively, with the journey time from Osaka to Maibara taking approximately 1 hour 28 minutes.

Rolling stock

 * 681 series or 683 series 6-car EMU sets
 * KiHa 189 series 3-car DMU (since March 2014)

Services were initially operated using the nine-car 681 series or 683 series EMUs used on Thunderbird services.

Rakuraku Biwako 1 and 2
Rakuraku Biwako 1 and 2 (between Osaka and Maibara) are formed as follows, with car 1 at the Maibara end.


 * Trains run as 9-car formations on certain days.

Rakuraku Biwako 4
Rakuraku Biwako 4 (Osaka to Kusatsu) is formed as follows, with car 1 at the Osaka end.


 * All cars are standard class and no-smoking.
 * Trains run as 6-car formations during busy periods.

History
The Biwako Express service was introduced from 2 June 2003.

The service was made entirely no-smoking from 1 June 2009.

The service started calling at Minami-Kusatsu Station, and all seats become reserved from 13 March 2021.

Effective the 16 March 2024 timetable revision, all services were renamed to Rakuraku Biwako. At the same time, 9-car 683 series sets operated on this service were replaced with 6-car 681 or 683 series sets.