Chubu & Hokuriku
How to ride Fukui Railway (Fukutetsu): board in the middle, pay at the front, tap blue in and yellow out
福井鉄道（福鉄電車）の乗り方
Fukui's tram-style line between Takefu and Fukui city centre: at unstaffed stops you board through the middle door and get off at the very front, paying into the fare box by the driver. Nationwide IC cards work — blue reader as you board, yellow as you get off. Weekend day pass ¥600.
- Board in the middle
- Exit at the front
- Pay when you get off
- IC cards OK
- Fare by distance
Fukui Railway (Fukutetsu) runs trains between the Takefu area of Echizen city and central Fukui. Fares depend on distance — check the fare display in the car.
How you get on and off depends on whether there are station staff at the stop.
乗り方の流れ
Step by step
01Board through the middle door
On Fukutetsu trains the middle door is the entrance and the very front door is the exit. At stations with staff on duty, you can use whichever door is open near you.
02No ticket? Take a numbered ticket
At unstaffed stops, buy a ticket from the machine first if there is one; otherwise take a numbered ticket (整理券) from the dispenser at the train entrance.
03IC card: blue reader on, yellow reader off
Nationwide transport IC cards work, including mobile versions such as Mobile ICOCA. Tap the blue reader at the train entrance (or the blue reader on the platform where a station has one) when you board, and the yellow reader on the fare box (or at the station) when you get off. You can top up at the yellow reader on board with ¥1,000 notes only.
04Pay into the fare box at the front
Check the fare on the display in the car, then put the fare with your numbered ticket (or your ticket) into the fare box behind the driver's seat. Show passes such as the day pass clearly to the driver. The changer on the fare box takes notes up to ¥1,000 — have coins ready.
05Get off at the very front
At unstaffed stops, leave through the front door in the direction of travel. At staffed stations, get off through any open door near you and hand your ticket to the staff.
Passes
The Saturday, Sunday and holiday one-day pass costs ¥600 (child ¥300) — worth it for a single return trip if your one-way fare is ¥310 or more. Advance passes are valid on any one day within three months of purchase, and some passes are also sold as digital tickets for smartphones.
The Fukui Railway & Echizen Railway combined one-day pass (¥1,700, child ¥850) covers both railways on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. For the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, a ¥2,100 (child ¥1,100) ticket bundles the combined pass with the bus from Echizen Railway's Katsuyama Station to the museum — buy your museum admission online on the museum's site first.
Good to know
- Fukutetsu and Echizen Railway run through trains between their lines, so the combined day pass makes sense if you're heading towards Mikuni or Awara as well.
- The JAPAN RAIL PASS doesn't cover Fukui Railway — it isn't a JR line.
Sources
- Fukui Railway: How to board and get off the train (Japanese)
- Fukui Railway: Day passes and special tickets (Japanese)
Rules differ between railways and change from time to time — last checked 13 Nov 2026. Follow signs and staff on the day.