Rakuraku Biwako

The Rakuraku Biwako is a commuter limited express train service operated by West Japan Railway Company between and or in Japan since June 2003. It replaced the previous Biwako Liner services.

Service pattern

, one weekday morning service runs from to, and two weekday evening services run from Osaka to Maibara and 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

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

Formations

''Rakuraku Biwako'' 1 and 2

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

Car No.	1	2	3	4	5	6
Accommodation	Green	Reserved	Reserved	Reserved	Reserved	Reserved

Trains run as 9-car formations on certain days.

''Rakuraku Biwako'' 4

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

Car No.	1	2	3
Accommodation	Reserved	Reserved	Reserved
Facilities			Wheelchair-accessible toilet

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.