Questions about Navitime

trying to find limited express trains that i can reserve from kyoto to himeji so I dont have to transfer from shin osaka. I am being told there are some at 7:06 am and 8:50 am but i don't see any of these on the app. what am i doing wrong? thanks

I checked it, and - indeed - Navitime is not showing these trains. I am not sure why. Even when excluding shinkansen and local trains, the limited express won't show.

Yes, there are two direct limited express trains per day from Kyoto to Himeji at the times you indicated. Most Japanese people won't use them, but instead use either the faster shinkansen or the cheaper special rapid. They make sense only to foreigners using regional rail passes that don't include the shinkansen between Kyoto and Osaka. I suspect that Navitime's algorithm is not considering it because of that relevance issue.

In any case, you can reserve the train here:
https://e5489.jr-odekake.net/e5489/ibpc/CBTopMenuPC

Just click onto the timetable to see the available trains.

Super Hakuto. 4500 yen.

Rapids are sometimes faster depend in which you take. 23XX yen.

since i have the setouchi pass i want to make sure the train is covered under the pass but the limited express don't show. guess i will have to ask at train station. thanks all

Why wouldn't it be covered?

It is covered!

when i am on navitime and i put in the setouchi pass, none of the limited express trains are showing. i'd prefer to take a direct limited express train to himeji. all navitime shows is a slow train to shin osaka and then i change for shinkansen.

am i doing something wrong?

even if i don't put in the setouchi pass these limited express trains are not showing on navitime. what am i doing wrong?

You ain't doing anything wrong. Navitime has issues showing irregular special train like these.

You know when these trains are, just book them when you can from an office or online.

if folks hadn't alerted me to this, i would not know. is there another transportation app i can use to see all trains?

Most will ,ost likely have the same issues. You are trying for a long distance train, but only going a short distance. So these timetable finders will pick the cheapers ones or the quickest ones first as options.

Did you not see my response?

As for alternative websites, this is one that will show the limited express:
https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/?sub_lang=nosub

Jorudan seems to require a paid log-in to specify limited express results, and it won’t give you a list of all the limited express trains from one city to another, all day long. I have not found an English route finder that will, although there might be one. I have found Japanese-language route finders that will, but they require a certain level of proficiency in Japanese. And the best one I have found is a paid subscription.

When I want to quickly find a full list of limited express trains between two cities, I use JR Cyberstation. This is not a route finder, but rather a seat availability checker. So it is not good for finding the best route between two cities. It will, however, tell you if there are any limited express trains, and if you set a time early in the day you can get a list of every single one of them. (Then you can go about getting seat reservations.) Note that it is not available late at night Japan time; I think the hours it is available are between 6 a.m. and midnight.

To identify the LEx trains between Kyoto and Himeji with Cyberstation, select Available Seats, then choose Conventional Lines to rule out Shinkansen lines, type Kyoto and Himeji into the boxes and make sure they are accepted, and choose a time early in the day.
https://www.jr.cyberstation.ne.jp/index_en.html

Apparently there are some Shin Kaisoku trains with reservable seats between the two cities, as well as the two morning departures of the Super Hakuto. And a 7:35 p.m. train called the Raku-Raku Harima, whatever that is.

When I have an active JR pass I often use limited express trains for short hops in urban areas (in particular between Kyoto and Osaka but sometimes also in Kanto), and Cyberstation is the tool I usually use to find what is available. If there is a better English-language tool I would like to know about it. Unfortunately, Cyberstation will not tell you if a given limited express train has unreserved cars, and also unfortunately, a lot of LEx trains are becoming all-reserved only, so just hopping on without a reservation is no longer an option for those trains.

Actually, Navitime does seem to work if you know how to use it. They have a timetable function that is free:
https://japantravel.navitime.com/en/area/jp/timetable/

Unfortunately I have never gotten very proficient with this feature of Navitime…. I think Cyberstation is just easier to use for this particular function (finding limited express trains). But the unavailability of Cyberstation during certain times of day is sometimes a pain in the neck, when I am planning trips from the U.S.

If going through the app, the timetable is not free but a paid premium feature. Happy to be shown otherwise.

But did click the link above, and the web version, is not a paid premium feature. Weird.

I'll be using the web version from now on instead of the app.