How to ride Nishitetsu (Nishi-Nippon Railroad) trains P
Operator-wide facts from Nishitetsu (Nishi-Nippon Railroad) trains's own pages; individual lines and stations can differ.
IC cards (Suica etc.)Accepted Pnimoca, Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA +4 more
Credit card touchAccepted PVisa, Mastercard etc. contactless
Step-free accessStation list →PPer-station table of escalators, elevators, slopes and accessible toilets (status as of October 2020); click a station name for its area map and floor plan. Ask ahead for boarding help.
IC cards and payment in detail
nimoca (Nishitetsu's own card) works on the whole Tenjin-Ōmuta Line (incl. the Dazaifu and Amagi lines) and the whole Kaizuka Line. Nishitetsu's railway IC card rules also accept the cards of the nationwide-interoperable issuers (Kitaca, PASMO, Suica, manaca, TOICA, PiTaPa, ICOCA, Hayakaken, SUGOCA). Touch the card on the gate reader for about one second when you enter and when you leave; do not insert it into the ticket slot. You need at least ¥10 balance to enter. IC cards cannot be used in the fare adjustment machines: if the balance is short when you leave, charge at the charge machine near the gate (in ¥1,000 units) or at the station window, or pay the shortfall at the window. Child and disability fares are deducted automatically only from child/disability nimoca cards issued by nimoca operators. As nimoca notes, one trip cannot cross from one IC card area into another, except where areas are linked (e.g. SUGOCA and Hayakaken through-running sections). Contactless credit/debit cards are a separate system: see the boarding steps. P
Buy a ticket at the ticket machine (cash only for ordinary tickets), or use an IC card such as nimoca, SUGOCA or Suica, or a contactless credit/debit card, phone or wearable.
IC card: touch it firmly on the gate reader for about one second. Do not put it into the ticket slot. You need at least ¥10 on the card.
Contactless card (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover, UnionPay): touch it on the touch-payment reader when you enter and again when you leave. It works at every station on the Tenjin-Ōmuta, Dazaifu, Amagi and Kaizuka lines, but only for one adult fare per card, and you cannot break your journey (no stopovers). A few entrances have no touch-payment reader (for example Yakuin north exit, Ōhashi north exit, Kurume north exit, Dazaifu east exit): use another entrance there.
Digital Dazaifu-Yanagawa sightseeing tickets are not used at the automatic gates: show the QR code at the staffed gate.
Getting off
Leave through the automatic gate: put in your ticket, or touch the same IC card or contactless card you entered with.
IC card short of balance: charge it at the charge machine near the gate (¥1,000 units) or at the window and touch again, or pay the shortfall at the window and leave through the staffed gate.
If your card was not read when you entered or left, tell the station staff.
Getting on
Applies to stations run by remote monitoring (集中管理方式), where staff patrol and a support centre watches the station, e.g. Tofurōmae, Murasaki, Tsuko, Mitsusawa, Hatama, Tsubuku, Yasutake, Ōmizo, Kuranaga, and on the Kaizuka Line Najima, Wajiro, Tōnoharu, Mitoma, Nishitetsu-Shingū.
IC card: touch it on the automatic gate or the simple card reader (簡易改札機) when you enter.
Cash: buy a ticket at the ticket machine. If the station has no ticket machine, take a boarding-station certificate (乗車駅証明書) from the dispenser and board the train.
There is no change machine at these stations: have the exact coins ready.
For help, press the call button on the intercom with a monitor near the gate (staffed from first to last train; you can also communicate in writing on the screen).
Getting off
IC card: touch it on the automatic gate or the simple card reader (簡易改札機) when you leave.
Ticket: put it into the automatic gate. Where there is no automatic gate, put the ticket into the fare box (運賃箱).
Boarding-station certificate: put the certificate and the fare in cash into the fare box. Where a fare adjustment machine is installed, use it instead (machines at Tofurōmae, Murasaki, Nishitetsu-Gojō, Najima, Tōnoharu, Wajiro, Mitoma and Nishitetsu-Shingū).
If staff are present you can also tell them and pay them.
Wheelchair assistance
Nishitetsu Customer Center (西鉄お客さまセンター), 8:00–20:00 every day: trains and buses, including whether stations are barrier-free for wheelchairs and pushchairs (some stations are not). For help boarding at remotely monitored stations (e.g. wheelchair assistance), call the support line and staff will be sent: Tenjin-Ōmuta Line 0944-72-3166, Kaizuka Line 092-632-7037 (fax 092-651-2538). Kushiwara and Ajisaka (inbound platforms) cannot be used by wheelchair users because of their structure: use another station. Tel. 050-3616-2150
Passes valid on Nishitetsu (Nishi-Nippon Railroad) 9P
Day passes, regional passes and special tickets that include Nishitetsu (Nishi-Nippon Railroad), cheapest first. Prices and rules change: check the official page before you buy.
The day you start it only, even if 24 hours have not passed (expires 1:00 next morning on Pass Case, 2:00 on my route). Start within 30 days of purchase.
¥14,000 Paper ticket (3 day-uses) · ¥13,000 my route digital version (3 day-uses)
Three one-day uses (one person 3 times, or up to 3 people on the same trip). Paper: within 3 months of purchase. my route: start within 7 days of purchase, use within 90 days; each day-use is valid until 2:00 the next morning.
THE RAIL KITCHEN CHIKUGO · Nishitetsu (Nishi-Nippon Railroad)
Nishitetsu Fukuoka (Tenjin) – Omuta (Friday course via Dazaifu), or round trips from Fukuoka (Tenjin) turning at Hanabatake
Thursdays (lunch round trip), Fridays (travel lunch via Dazaifu to Omuta), Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (early lunch round trip and late lunch to Omuta); plus special event runs