The Japan Railways Group , more commonly known as the JR Group ( JRグループ , Jeiāru Gurūpu ) or simply JR , is a group of railway companies in Japan that underwent division and privatization of the government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. It consists of six passenger railway companies, one freight railway company, and two non-service companies. Most of the liability of the JNR was assumed by the JNR Settlement Corporation .
16-761: The Kyushu Railway Company , also referred to as JR Kyushu ( JR九州 , Jeiāru Kyūshū ) , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu , Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait between Fukuoka and Busan , South Korea . It also operates hotels, restaurants, and drugstores across its service region. JR Kyushu's headquarters are in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka . When Japanese National Railways
32-417: A distinction between JR railways (including former JR lines that are now third sector ) and other private railways , and JR railways are almost always denoted differently from other private railways when shown on maps. By the 1970s, passenger and freight business had declined, and fare increases had failed to keep up with higher labor costs. The JR Group companies were formed out of the privatization of
48-461: A nationwide freight operator. Unlike some other groups of companies, the JR Group is made up of independent companies, and it does not have group headquarters or a holding company to set the overall business policy. The six passenger railways of the JR Group are separated by region. Nearly all their services are within the prescribed geographic area. However, some long-distance operations extend beyond
64-751: Is an Independent Administrative Institution ( 独立行政法人 , Dokuritsu gyōsei hōjin ) created by an Act of the National Diet , effective 1 October 2003. JRTT was founded by integrating the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation (JRCC) and the Corporation for Advanced Transport and Technology (CATT). As its name implies, JRTT is involved in construction and technical support for railway and other transportation projects throughout Japan. JRTT has undertaken numerous railway construction projects during its existence, including: JRTT
80-540: Is currently the parent entity of the following JR Group companies: In 2011, the National Diet passed legislation requiring JRTT to use its retained earnings from other businesses for the purpose of Shinkansen construction and capital expenditures at its subsidiary railway companies. JRTT was also a shareholder of the West Japan Railway Company , the Central Japan Railway Company and
96-621: Is currently working on construction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen and Hokkaido Shinkansen high-speed rail projects. In addition to its railway construction projects, JRTT has also sponsored maritime research, including the latest ship used as the JR Miyajima Ferry . JRTT also performs administrative functions related to the liquidation of the Japanese National Railways , such as management of JNR employee pensions. JRTT
112-782: The Beetle ferry , started in 1991, and the Train d'or bakery chain, started in 1992. JR Kyushu also built up its premium rail services through the development of the Kyushu Shinkansen high-speed rail line and the Seven Stars in Kyushu luxury excursion train . The company introduced SUGOCA , a smart card ticketing system, from 1 March 2009. JR Kyushu executed its initial public offering in October 2016. Non-railway operations account for roughly 60% of
128-546: The JR Companies Act , and are under the control of the public Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT), while JR East , JR Central , JR West , and JR Kyushu are completely floated in the stock market ; in addition, JR East, JR Central and JR West are constituents of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 indices. Because the railways used to be owned by the government, Japanese people generally make
144-486: The Japanese National Railways in 1987. In 1987, the government of Japan took steps to divide and privatize JNR. While division of operations began in April of that year, privatization was not immediate: initially, the government retained ownership of the companies. Privatization of some of the companies began in the early 1990s. By October 2016, all of the shares of JR East, JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu had been offered to
160-688: The Railway Technical Research Institute and Railway Information Systems Co., Ltd. To cover various non-railway business areas, each regional operator in the JR Group has its own group of subsidiary companies with names like "JR East Group" and "JR Shikoku Group". Owned by JRTT Owned by JRTT Owned by JRTT Owned by the 7 railway companies above JR maintains a nationwide railway network as well as common ticketing rules that it inherited from JNR. Passengers may travel across several JR companies without changing trains and without purchasing separate tickets. However, trains running across
176-455: The boundaries of JR companies have been reduced. JR maintains the same ticketing rules based on the JNR rules and has an integrated reservation system known as MARS (jointly developed with Hitachi ). Some types of tickets (passes), such as Japan Rail Pass and Seishun 18 Ticket , are issued as "valid for all JR lines" and accepted by all passenger JR companies. Various unions represent workers at
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#1732851193117192-422: The boundaries. The Shirasagi train service between Nagoya and Kanazawa , for instance, uses JR West rolling stock but the segment of track between Nagoya and Maibara is owned by JR Central, whose crew manage the train on that section. Japan Freight Railway Company operates all freight service on the network previously owned by JNR. In addition, the group includes two non-operating companies. These are
208-585: The company's sales and most of its profits. Japan Railways Group The JR Group operates a large proportion of intercity rail service (including the Shinkansen high-speed rail lines) and commuter rail service. JR Hokkaido , JR Shikoku , and JR Freight ( JRF ) are governed by the Act for the Passenger Railway Companies and Japan Freight Railway Company [ ja ] , also known as
224-569: The different JR Group companies, such as the National Railway Workers' Union , All Japan Construction, Transport and General Workers' Union , Doro-Chiba , and the Japan Confederation of Railway Workers' Unions . Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency The Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency ( 鉄道建設・運輸施設整備支援機構 , Tetsudō Kensetsu Un'yu Shisetsu Seibi Shien Kikō ) , or JRTT ,
240-941: The market and they are now publicly traded. On the other hand, all of the shares of JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku and JR Freight are still owned by Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency , an independent administrative institution of the state. All the JR Group companies operating in the Honshū region are constituents of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 indexes. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Hokkaido [REDACTED] [REDACTED] East [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Central [REDACTED] [REDACTED] West [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Shikoku [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Kyushu The Japan Railways Group consists of seven operating companies and two other companies that do not provide rail service. The operating companies are organized into six passenger operators and
256-406: Was divided in 1987, Kyushu Railway Company inherited its assets and operations on the island of Kyushu along with losses of around 28.8 billion yen, exacerbated by a growing highway network in Kyushu and many lightly used rural lines. After privatization, JR Kyushu diversified its business into new ventures such as fish and mushroom farming and car sales. Two of its more successful side ventures were
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