Japan Railway

Japan Railway, more commonly called JR, is a collective term for the privatized successors to the former Japanese National Railways, formed when JNR was divided into seven parts on April 1, 1987. These companies now collectively form the Japan Rail Group http://www.japanrail.com/jrgroup.php.

Related Topics:
Japanese National Railways - April 1 - 1987

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In Japan, a strong distinction is still made between JR and "genuine" private railways.

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The seven JR companies are:

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• JR Hokkaido or Hokkaido Railway Company (北海道旅客鉄道 or JR北海道)
• JR East or East Japan Railway Company (東日本旅客鉄道 or JR東日本)
• JR Central or Central Japan Railway Company (東海旅客鉄道 or JR東海)
• JR West or West Japan Railway Company (西日本旅客鉄道 or JR西日本)
• JR Shikoku or Shikoku Railway Company (四国旅客鉄道 or JR四国)
• JR Kyushu or Kyushu Railway Company (九州旅客鉄道 or JR九州)
• JR Freight or Japan Freight Railway Company (日本貨物鉄道 or JR貨物)

In addition, there is JR Soken (JR総研), a research institution.

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The Japan Railways Group lies at the heart of Japan's railroad system. It is a government-subsidized group of eight companies that took over most of the assets, operations, and liabilities of the government-owned Japanese National Railways in 1987. Initially, the companies remained in the public domain, but privatization began for some of the companies in the early 1990s. There are six passenger companies: the East Japan, West Japan, and Central Japan railway companies, which operate in Honshu, and the Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido railroad companies, which operate on the islands for which the companies were named. In addition, the East Japan Railway Company, since the opening of the Seikan Tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido in 1988, also provides express service to Sapporo. Similarly, the Central Japan Railway Company started serving Shikoku after the 1990 completion of the Seto-Ohashi bridges, a system of seven bridges linking Honshu and Shikoku. The six companies had 18,800 kilometers of routes (mostly 1.1-meter track) in use in the late 1980s. About 25 percent of the routes were in double-track and multitrack sections, and the rest were single-track. In 1988 about 51 percent of the six companies' 1,000 locomotives were diesel, and the rest were electric. Another company, Japan Freight Railway Company, ownes its locomotives (295 diesel and 569 electric locomotives in 1988), rolling stock, and stations but hires track from the six passenger companies. It runs fewer trains on less track than Japanese National Railways freight service did before its demise but at increased revenues and higher productivity. The eighth company, the Shinkansen Property Corporation, leases Shinkansen (dubbed "bullet" train in english) railroad facilities--including 2,100 kilometers of 1.4-meter gauge highspeed track--to the passenger companies on Honshu. Some of the Shinkansen electric-powered trains operate at speeds up to 240 kilometers per hour.

Related Topics:
Japan Railways - Subsidized - Asset - Operation - Liabilities - Japanese National Railways - East Japan - West Japan - Central Japan - Honshu - Kyushu - Shikoku - Hokkaido - Seikan Tunnel - Sapporo - Seto-Ohashi - Diesel - Japan Freight Railway Company - Rolling stock - Productivity - Shinkansen Property Corporation - Shinkansen

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Another nearly 3,400 kilometers of routes, mostly 1.1-meter gauge, are operated by major private railroads and by what are known in Japan as third-sector railroads--new companies, financed with private and local government funds--which absorbed some of Japanese National Railways' rural lines. There were twenty-seven private and third-sector companies in 1989.

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What remained of the debt-ridden Japanese National Railways after its 1987 breakup was named the Japanese National Railways Settlement Corporation. Its purpose was to dispose of assets not absorbed by the successor companies and to execute other activities relating to the breakup, such as reemployment of former personnel. The demise of the government-owned system came after charges of serious management inefficiencies, profit losses, and fraud. By the early 1980s, passenger and freight business had declined, and fare increases failed to keep up with higher labor costs. The new companies introduced competition, cut their staffing, and made reform efforts. Initial public reaction to these moves was good: the combined passenger travel on the Japan Railways Group passenger companies in 1987 was 204.7 billion passenger-kilometers, up 3.2 percent from 1986, while the passenger sector previously had been stagnant since 1975. The growth in passenger transport of private railroads in 1987 was 2.6 percent, which meant that the Japan Railways Group's rate of increase was above that of the private sector railroads for the first time since 1974. Demand for rail transport was improved, although it still accounted for only 28 percent of passenger transportation and only 5 percent of cargo transportation in 1990. Rail passenger transportation was superior to automobiles in terms of energy efficiency and of speed in longdistance transportation.

Related Topics:
Japanese National Railways Settlement Corporation - Fraud - Private sector - Energy efficiency

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Japan Railway: See also ►