Japanese Railways

 

In 1987, the government of Japan took the decision to divide and privatize Japanese National Railways. Most of the government-owned Japanese National Railways was taken by the Japan Railways Group (JR Group).

The JR Group lies at the heart of Japan’s railway network, operating a large proportion of intercity rail service (including the Shinkansen high-speed rail lines) and commuter rail service.

The 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 a nationwide freight operator.

The six passenger railways of the JR Group are separated by regions. Nearly all their services are within the prescribed¹ geographic area. However, some long-distance operations extend beyond the boundaries². The Shirasagi train service between Nagoya and Toyama, for example, uses JR West rolling stock but the section of track between Nagoya and Maibara is owned by JR Central, whose crew runs the train on that section.

Japan Freight Railway Company operates all freight service on the network previously owned by JNR. Japan Freight Railway Company owns its locomotives, rolling stock and stations, but leases track from the six passenger companies.

In addition, the group includes two non-operating companies³. These are the Railway Technical Research Institute and Railway Information Systems Co., Ltd.

The Shinkansen is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies.

Shinkansen literally means ‘new trunk line’, but the name is widely used inside and outside Japan; it refers not only to the trains but to the railway system as a whole.

The Tokaido Shinkansen is the world’s busiest high-speed rail line. The Tokaido was originally an old Japanese geographical region in the south-east of Honshu; its name literally means ‘Eastern sea way’. The term also refers to a series of roads that connect the capitals of each of the 15 provinces in that region.

The Tokaido Shinkansen, connecting Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka, was inaugurated in 1964 as the first Shinkansen line and the world’s first high speed train service. At that time the trains already ran at about 200 kmh. Nowadays they reach speeds of 300 kmh. In 2003, test runs reached 443 kmh for maglev trainsets.

Carrying 151 million passengers a year (March 2008), it has transported more passengers (over 6 billion) than any other high speed line in the world. Tokyo and Osaka are the two largest metropolises in Japan. Ten trains with 16 cars each (1, 300 seating capacity) run in each direction with minimum 3 minutes frequency. Being a long-distance transport system, the Shinkansen also serves commuters who travel to work in metropolitan areas from remote cities.

The trains operating on the Tokaido Shinkansen are of the following three categories:

• Nozomi (‘hope’): Nozomi trains stop only at the most important stations, and cover the distance between Osaka and Tokyo (over 500 km) in about two and a half hours.

• Hikari (‘light’): Hikari trains stop a little bit more frequently than Nozomi trains, and need approximately three hours to reach Osaka from Tokyo.

• Kodama (‘echo’): The slowest category. Kodama trains stop at all stations.

 

Notes: ¹prescribed – установленный, определённый;

²to extend beyond the boundaries – выйти за границы;

³non-operating company – арендная компания (сдающая все свои предприятия

или иное имущество в аренду).