Japan Railways

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Map showing the approximate areas covered by each company in the JR Group: JR Hokkaido (light green), JR East (dark green), JR Central (orange), JR West (dark blue), JR Shikoku (light blue), and JR Kyushu (red). JR Freight operates nationwide.

The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as JR, is a government-subsidised group of eight private companies that took over most of the assets, operations, and liabilities of the government-owned Japanese National Railways on April 1, 1987.

The JR Group lies at the heart of Japan's railway network, operating almost all intercity rail service (including the Shinkansen high-speed rail lines) and a large proportion of commuter rail service. A strong distinction is still made between JR and other private railway companies; for instance, the two are generally denoted differently on maps.

JR companies

The seven passenger operating companies of the JR group are separated by region, but many operate long-distance train service beyond their regional boundaries (the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, for instance, is operated by JR Central but extends to JR East and JR West stations).

• JR Hokkaidō 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 Kyūshū or Kyūshū 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 are a number of non-operating companies, such as research institution JR Soken (JR総研).

Background

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.

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 re-employment of former personnel.

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 % from 1986, while the passenger sector previously had been stagnant since 1975. The growth in passenger transport of private railways in 1987 was 2.6 %, 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 improved, although it still accounted for only 28 % of passenger transportation and only 5 % of cargo transportation in 1990. Rail passenger transportation was superior to automobiles in terms of energy efficiency and of speed in long distance transportation.

Initially, the companies remained government-owned, but privatisation began for some of the companies in the early 1990s. The six companies had 18,800 kilometers of routes (mostly 1.1-metre track) in use in the late 1980s. About 25 % of the routes were in double-track and multitrack sections, and the rest were single-track. In 1988 about 51 % of the six companies' 1,000 locomotives were diesel, and the rest were electric.

Japan Freight Railway Company owns 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 Shinkansen Property Corporation leases Shinkansen railway facilities, including 2,100 kilometers of 1.4-meter gauge highspeed track, to the passenger companies on Honshū. Some of the Shinkansen electric-powered trains operate at speeds up to 240 kilometers per hour.

Another nearly 3,400 kilometers of routes, mostly 1.1-meter gauge, are operated by major private railways 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.

See also

• Japanese National Railways
• Rail transport in Japan
• List of railway companies in Japan
• Private railway

External links

• Japan Railways Group
• Hisakyu's Railway Guide

Reference

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. - Japan

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