The joint UIC-East Japan Railway Company (JR East) workshop on Hospitality & Service Training Session was held in Tokyo, Japan from 1 to 5 June 2026, bringing together participants from eight countries: Azerbaijan, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Workshop overview
The workshop aimed to share practical knowledge on improving service quality among railway operators in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to classroom-based learning, participants acquired a hands-on understanding through site visits to passenger service providers and training facilities responsible for human resource development within the JR East Group.
In this interactive workshop, not only did members of JR East Group share their experience and expertise in hospitality and service, but participants were also invited to present their own organisations’ initiatives and challenges related to improving hospitality and service quality.

Programme highlights
Day 1:
On the first day, the workshop began with welcome message videos from Philippe Lorand and Yuke Li of UIC, followed by an introduction to JR East Group. Participants then gave presentations on their organisations, including overviews, current service initiatives and challenges, and what they hoped to learn and acquire from the workshop sessions.
In the afternoon session, the Service Quality Improvement Department, which is responsible for creating and promoting strategies to improve the overall service quality and foster a hospitality mindset among employees in the company, delivered a session introducing JR East Group’s service quality improvement initiatives and its latest management vision ‘CX Strategic Vision’ for improving customer experience value.

Day 2:
During the morning session, participants visited Tokyo Station to observe the pre-duty preparation work of GranClass attendants, who provide onboard services for the highest class on JR East’s Shinkansen. During this, they learned about the attendants’ ingenuity and mindset when it comes to enhancing customer experience value.
Afterwards, they traveled from Tokyo to Sendai on the Tohoku Shinkansen in GranClass, where they experienced the service firsthand.
After arriving at Sendai Station, participants visited the Sendai Shinkansen Crew Depot, received an introduction to initiatives by Shinkansen crews to improve service quality, which included how Shinkansen conductors manage onboard air conditioning and how they respond to problems on board. In addition, they learned how to handle passengers experiencing sudden illness through a demonstration using a train simulator.

Day 3:
At the beginning of the day, participants visited the training facility of JR East TESSEI Co., Ltd., which is responsible for Shinkansen cleaning operations. After an introduction to the company, participants experienced part of the cleaning process, table wiping, using training mockups.
Then they moved to Tokyo Station, where they observed actual operations and received explanations from TESSEI staff.
Participants were able to deepen their understanding of how to achieve both high-quality cleaning and excellent service within the limited time available, particularly during the approximately seven-minute cleaning process carried out between Shinkansen train turnarounds.

Day 4:
In the morning session, participants attended a lecture by a specialist on safe and reliable Shinkansen operations, learning about JR East’s efforts to maintain these high standards in its operations.
In the afternoon, participants visited the training facility of JR East Service Creation Co., Ltd., whose service they had experienced firsthand on Day 2. They further learned about the duties of GranClass attendants and experienced training on facial expressions and customer service attitudes, which help to ensure customer satisfaction.

Day 5:
On the final day, participants reflected on what they had learned and acquired during the workshop sessions, and presented how they would apply these lessons within their own organisations. Feedback from participants included the following:

• I learned that the high level of customer experience value realised by the JR East Group is supported by the strong awareness and service-oriented attitude of all JR East Group employees.
• I reaffirmed that high-quality railway service is built upon a solid foundation of safety.
• I expressed my intention to review and improve our own service training programmes by applying the knowledge gained through discussions with JR East Group staff and fellow participants.

Further opportunities
If you are interested in similar topics, UIC and JR East Group can arrange customised workshops and training programmes tailored to your needs. For more information, you can also refer to UIC Academy and the JR East official website and LinkedIn.

Acknowledgements
The workshop was conducted with the approval of the UIC Asia-Pacific Region members and funded by the region’s budget. UIC would like to thank all of the members who supported this workshop programme, the participants, and the JR East Group project team for their organisation.