Hyperdia is scaring me

Hey Uji: Do you have any inside access to the folks at Hyperdia? They still haven't updated their schedule listings since March and we're in the process of planning a trip. I repeatedly email them, but never receive a response. How much can the current listings be trusted for a trip in mid-October? Thanks.

Railroad schedules rarely change unless there is major construction (eg new rail line openings). Major JR routes stay the same year through. Schedule changes usually happen in April.

The train schedule today is 99.9% chance of being the same schedule in October.

What lines were you looking at?

I agree with the above. The schedules just don't change that often, so you don't really have anything to worry about.

Maybe the schedules chnge slightly, I experienced it, but it is always a matter of a train arriving at 8:32 instead of 8:34, really big changes are rare, and I don't think that there is any new line being built at the moment...

Hello and thanks for the responses. I was aware that the schedules change in April and that was one reason I was concerned that there were no updates listed on Hyperdia to date. In fact, I believe that Uji mentioned some concerns about a month ago.
Our itinerary will take us all over including Shikoku and will involve JR trains as well as Kintetsu and Nankai trains. We could get a written timetable from JR in August, but that won't include local trains or Kintetsu or Nankai.
Jorudan confirms most of our routes so far, but then you get into the Nozomi thing.
We're probably worrying too much, but some of our train changes are pretty close time-wise and we just wanted to be as accurate as possible. Thanks, and any further input would be welcome.

Koniero,

Note that the main annual timetable revision for JR Group companies is always in March (not April).

Trains can be delayed in any case, and stations can sometimes be confusing. For a less stressful holiday, I recommend re-arranging your schedule so you don't have to constantly be concerned about making train changes with not much time.

Actually, most of our train changes have lots of time between them. However, when you're utilizing lines such as Nankai and Kintetsu to smaller destinations, your options are often limited. It was for those few close connections that I have some concerns.

Hyperdia is now showing the July 2010 timetable! Yeah!

Thanks for the update rootles. Now can I assume that this schedule carries through October?
I checked some of our prior train times and there seems to be no changes at all in the new updates.

I checked some of our prior train times and there seems to be no changes at all in the new updates.

Like I alluded to before, the schedules you see today will 99.999% be the same in October right through March-April of 2011.

The only major changes I can foresee that would effect the "average" traveler to Japan would be the new Keisei Line opening. Which is change for the better.