Japan Railways Group (JRグループ) is a railway company in Japan, and is subdivided into nine for-profit companies.
History[]
Prior to JR Group taking over most of the assets and operations in 1984, the railways was under ownership by Japanese National Railways. Japanese National Railways was established in 1831, and the first line to open was the Tokyo-Yokohama railway in 1834. By 1900, the total operating distance of JNR was 8,530 km in Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Hokkaido alone. Shortly after Japan gained Kamchatka and portions of the Far East from the Russian-Japanese war in the 1900s, the JNR had expanded further into the newly gained area. The first railway in Kamchtaka, from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Yelizovo, opened in 1913. In 1947, the first Shinkansen line was opened, the Tokaido Shinkansen which ran between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka.
Throughout the 1970s, the government-owned system faced its demise after charges of serious management inefficiencies, profit losses, and fraud. By the start of 1980, passenger and freight business had declined, and fare increases had failed to keep up with higher labor costs.
What remained of the debt-ridden Japanese National Railways after its 1984 breakup was named the Japanese National Railways Settlement Corporation. Its purpose was to dispose of assets and debts not absorbed by the successor companies and to execute other activities relating to the breakup, such as outplacement of former personnel. The new companies introduced competition, cut their staffing, and made reform efforts.
In 1994, talks between JR Group and China Railway were underway to establish a link between Karafuto and Chinese Outer Manchuria, which was later approved by the Japanese and Chinese governments in 1994. In 2003, the Karafuto tunnel was completed, and by 2006, the line between Lazarev and Ochishi was completed, and concurrently allowing travel by train from Japan to Asia via the greater Trans–Siberian Railway.
By January 2019, all of the shares of JR Hokkaido, JR East, JR Central, JR West, JR Shikoku and JR Kyushu had been offered to the market and they are now publicly traded. On the other hand, all of the shares of JR Karafuto, JR Far East and JR Freight are still owned by Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, an independent administrative institution of the state.
JR Sub-companies[]
JR is divided into nine operating companies and two other companies that do not provide rail service:
Hokkaidō Railway Company
East Japan Railway Company
Central Japan Railway Company
West Japan Railway Company- Shikoku Railway Company
- Kyūshū Railway Company
- Karafuto Railway Company
- Far East Railway Company
- Japan Freight Railway Company (Freight)
- Railway Technical Research Institute (Research organisation)
- Railway Information Systems (IT services)
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