The characters 雷 鳥 literally mean "thunder/lightning" and "bird" in Japanese, but the compound word 雷鳥 (raichō) is the name of Lagopus muta, the rock ptarmigan.

Ōsaka - Shin-Ōsaka - Kyoto - (Katata: Raicho 8 only) - (Omi-Imazu: Raicho 33 only) - Tsuruga - Takefu - Sabae - Fukui - Awaraonsen - Kagaonsen - Komatsu - - Kanazawa The Raichō service was first introduced on 25 December 1964 as a limited express operating between Osaka and Toyama.

[1] From the start of the 20 April 1995 timetable revision, new 681 series EMUs were introduced on Osaka to Toyama services, named Super Raichō (Thunderbird).

JR West introduced a "women-only" section in the reserved-seating cars of Raichō and Thunderbird trains from October 2007 following the rape of a female passenger by a man in a train toilet while travelling on a Thunderbird service in August 2006.

[2][3] The last remaining Raichō service was discontinued from the start of the 12 March 2011 timetable revision, with all trains subsequently using the Thunderbird name.