Hakutaka

As of 16 March 2024, the service is structured as five daily return services between Tokyo and Tsuruga, nine daily return services between Tokyo and Kanazawa, and one daily return service between Nagano and Kanazawa. Hakutaka trains call at Tokyo, Ueno, Ōmiya, Takasaki and Nagano with all trains, and intermediate stops continue through Jōetsumyōkō, Itoigawa, Toyama, Shin-Takaoka, Kanazawa, Komatsu, Fukui and Echizen-Takefu to Tsuruga, with several stations served only by some trains. Trains operate at a maximum speed of 260 km/h, while the maximum permitted speed is 275 km/h, reached on the Ōmiya–Takasaki section. From the 13 March 2021 timetable revision the maximum speed between Ueno and Ōmiya (within Saitama Prefecture only) was raised from 110 km/h to 130 km/h, shortening journey times.

Hakutaka services are operated using JR East E7 series and JR West W7 series twelve-car train sets, based at Nagano and Hakusan depots respectively, both in service since 14 March 2015. In each twelve-car formation, with car 1 at the Tokyo end, cars 1 to 10 are ordinary-class cars with 2+3 seating, car 11 is a Green car with 2+2 seating, and car 12 is a Gran Class car with 2+1 seating, and all cars are no-smoking. The service name carries a long lineage: a limited express first ran on 1 October 1965 between Ueno in Tokyo and Kanazawa via Naoetsu before being discontinued on 15 November 1982; the name was reinstated from 23 March 1997 for limited expresses jointly operated by JR West and Hokuetsu Express linking Kanazawa with Echigo-Yuzawa on the Joetsu Shinkansen via the newly built Hokuetsu Express Hokuhoku Line, operating at up to 160 km/h. The last Hakutaka limited express ran on 13 March 2015, immediately before the Shinkansen service took over the name.

• 1965A Hakutaka limited express is first introduced on 1 October 1965, operating between Ueno in Tokyo and Kanazawa via Naoetsu.
• 1982The original Hakutaka limited express is discontinued from 15 November 1982, following the opening of the Joetsu Shinkansen.
• 1997The Hakutaka name is reinstated from 23 March 1997 for limited expresses jointly run by JR West and Hokuetsu Express via the new Hokuetsu Express Hokuhoku Line, operating at up to 160 km/h.
• 2013On 10 October 2013, JR East and JR West announce that the name Hakutaka will be used for the limited-stop service after the Nagano–Kanazawa extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
• 2015On 14 March 2015 the Hakutaka name is transferred to new Shinkansen services running between Tokyo and Kanazawa as the Hokuriku Shinkansen opens beyond Nagano; the last Hakutaka limited express had run the previous day, 13 March 2015.
• 2019On 12 October 2019, Typhoon Hagibis breaches the Chikuma River levee, flooding the Nagano Shinkansen depot and submerging ten E7/W7 sets — one-third of the Hokuriku Shinkansen fleet; full-line service resumes on 25 October 2019.
• 2021From the 13 March 2021 timetable revision, the maximum speed between Ueno and Ōmiya (within Saitama Prefecture only) is raised from 110 km/h to 130 km/h, shortening journey times.
• 2024On 16 March 2024, with the Kanazawa–Tsuruga extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, Hakutaka service is extended to run between Tokyo and Tsuruga.