The is a commuter limited express train service operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between and or in Japan since June 2003. It replaced the previous Biwako Liner services.
, one weekday morning service (Rakuraku Biwako 1) runs from to , and two weekday evening services (Rakuraku Biwako 2 & 4) run from Osaka to Maibara and respectively, with the journey time from Osaka to Maibara taking approximately 1 hour 28 minutes.
Services were initially operated using the nine-car 681 series or 683 series EMUs used on Thunderbird services.
Rakuraku Biwako 1 and 2 (between Osaka and Maibara) are formed as follows, with car 1 at the Maibara end.
Rakuraku Biwako 4 (Osaka to Kusatsu) is formed as follows, with car 1 at the Osaka end.
The Biwako Express service was introduced from 2 June 2003.
The service was made entirely no-smoking from 1 June 2009.
The service started calling at Minami-Kusatsu Station, and all seats become reserved from 13 March 2021.
Effective the 16 March 2024 timetable revision, all services were renamed to Rakuraku Biwako. At the same time, 9-car 683 series sets operated on this service were replaced with 6-car 681 or 683 series sets.