>>1481648The "L" designation was something JNR designated to certain Limited Express trains back in October 1972 when they basically finished the limited express network in Japan with the completion of the Sanyo Shinkansen to Okayama and the full electrification of the Sea of Japan Lines from Maibara all the way to Aomori. Some of the features include Non-Reserved Seats and departing in the same minute of an hour with relatively high frequency. The following are the first 9 Limited Express services that received the "L" designation:
Sazanami: Tokyo - Tateyama
Wakashio: Tokyo - Awa-Kamogawa
Hibari: Ueno - Sendai via Tohoku Main Line (Ended in 1982 when Tohoku Shinkansen opened)
Hitachi: Ueno - Sendai via Joban Line
Toki: Ueno - Niigata (Ended in 1982 when Joetsu Shinkansen opened)
Asama: Ueno - Nagano (Ended in 1997 when Nagano Shinkansen opened)
Hato: Okayama - Shimonoseki (Ended in 1975 when Sanyo Shinkansen was fully completed)
Shioji: Shin-Osaka - Shimonoseki (Ended in 1975 when Sanyo Shinkansen was fully completed)
Tsubame: Hakata - Nishi-Kagoshima (Ended in 2004 when Kyushu Shinkansen was partially opened)
Naturally it created a "boom" of sorts with more limited express trains taking the designation when a lot of older Express services were discontinued and being replaced by them in the late 1970s / early 1980s along with the eventual "bust" when the "L" designation began to be taken off from those services in the early 2000s until JR Central finally removed the last ones from Shinano and Hida in 2018
