JR East announced on November 19th that it plans to have the Joetsu Shinkansen
running again by December 28th.  (This date is still a "goal", but they vow to
put in every effort to make it.)  Trains will run slower on the repaired
section, adding about 15 minutes to travel time between Tokyo and Niigata.  The
number of trains will be back to normal, but the number of seasonal extra runs
will be limited.  JR says that reservations for this line will be accepted from
about 10 days prior to the reopening date.

JR East Tadami Line will reopen on November 20th.

JR East Shin'etsu Line will reopen on November 29th.  Night trains between Osaka
and northern Honshu and Hokkaido, as well as the Hokuetsu Ltd. between Nagaoka
and Kanazawa will be running again.

The railroad cannot tell how long it will take to repair the Joetsu Local Line
and the Iiyama Line, the other two sections damaged by the recent earthquake.

JR East announcent, in Japanese:
http://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2004_2/20041110.pdf

JR East announcement in English:
"About the difficulties in the transportation due to the influences of <the 2004
Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake>"
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/caution/20041027_earthquake.html
(no practical information here as of this posting Nov 20.)

JR East information counter locations, infoline phone number (English):
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e-info/index.htm


Douso, The Prophet of the Way