Fukui: ‘Dinosaur Train’ to Start Running to Museum This Summer

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:16 JST, April 15, 2023

FUKUI — Echizen Railway Co., operating in Fukui Prefecture, will begin running a “dinosaur train” this summer.

The train will connect Fukui with Katsuyama, where the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum is located. The start of the service will coincide with the reopening of the museum, which is being refurbished. The operator plans to run the train on weekends and holidays, except during winter.

The two-car train will run between Fukui Station and Katsuyama Station. In addition to various dinosaurs painted on the exterior, the cars will also have a special interior featuring dinosaurs. The walls of the first car are decorated in green and feature a full-sized replica of a head of a tyrannosaur.

The second car has displays of excavation sites and monuments including a replica of a Fukuiraptor, fossils of which were found in the prefecture.

The train accommodates up to 50 passengers on a one-way trip, and all passengers need to make reservations in advance. Tickets will be sold as a package that includes the museum’s admission fee and bus fare from Katsuyama Station to the museum.

The Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line will be extended to Fukui Prefecture in spring next year, and trains will stop at Fukui Station. “We want to guide visitors from outside the prefecture to the dinosaur museum with this special train,” an Echizen Railway official said.