West Japan Railway Company
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The West Japan Railway Company (西日本旅客鉄道株式会社 Nishi-Nihon Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 9021 ), also referred to as JR West (JR西日本 Jeiāru Nishi-Nihon?), is one of the Japan Railway (JR) group of companies and operates in western Honshū.
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[edit] History
JR West was incorporated as a business corporation (kabushiki kaisha) on 1 April 1987 as part of the breakup of government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR). Initially, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of the JNR Settlement Corporation, a special company created to hold the assets of the former JNR while they were shuffled among the new JR companies.
For the first four years of its existence, JR West leased its highest-revenue line, the Sanyō Shinkansen, from the separate Shinkansen Holding Corporation. JR West purchased the line in October 1991 at a cost of 974.1 billion JPY (about 7.2 billion USD) in long-term payable debt.
JNRSC sold 68.3% of JR West in an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October of 1996. After JNRSC was dissolved in October of 1998, its shares of JR West were transferred to the government-owned Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation (JRCC), which merged into the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT) as part of a bureaucratic reform package in October 2003. JRTT offered all of its shares in JR West to the public in an international IPO in 2004, ending the era of government ownership of JR West. JR West is now listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange, Osaka Securities Exchange and Fukuoka Stock Exchange.
JR West continues to be burdened by debt sustained by JNR up to 1987, although through refinancing, it has managed to halve its interest payments over the last ten years.
[edit] Lines
[edit] Sanyō Shinkansen
JR West's highest-grossing line is the Sanyō Shinkansen high speed rail line between Osaka and Fukuoka. The Sanyō Shinkansen alone accounts for about 40% of JR West's passenger revenues.
[edit] Urban Network
The "Urban Network" is JR West's name for its commuter rail lines in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. These lines together comprise 610 km of track, have 245 stations and account for about 40% of JR West's passenger revenues. Urban Network stations are equipped to handle ICOCA fare cards. Train control on these lines is highly automated, and during peak hours trains run as often as every two minutes.
JR West's Urban Network competes with a number of private commuter rail operators around Osaka, the "Big 4" being Hankyu Railway/Hanshin Railway (Hankyu bought Hanshin in 2005), Keihan Railway, Kinki Nippon Railway (Kintetsu), and Nankai Railway. JR West's market share in the region is roughly equal to that of the Big 4 put together, largely due to its comprehensive network and high-speed commuter trains (Special Rapid Service trains on the Kobe and Kyoto lines operate at up to 130 km/h).
- Biwako Line (琵琶湖線)
- Gakkentoshi Line (学研都市線)
- Hanwa Line (阪和線)
- Kansai Airport Line (関西空港線)
- Kobe Line (JR神戸線)
- Kosei Line (湖西線)
- Kyoto Line (JR京都線)
- Nara Line (奈良線)
- Osaka Loop Line (大阪環状線)
- Sagano Line (嵯峨野線)
- Takarazuka Line (JR宝塚線)
- Tozai Line (JR東西線)
- Yamatoji Line (大和路線)
- Yumesaki Line (JRゆめ咲線)
[edit] Intercity and regional lines
A number of other lines account for more than half of JR West's track mileage. These lines primarily handle business and leisure travel between smaller cities and rural areas in western Japan. They account for about 20% of the company's passenger revenues.
Intercity lines
- Fukuchiyama Line (福知山線)
- Hakubi Line (伯備線)
- Hokuriku Main Line (北陸本線)
- Kansai Main Line (関西本線)
- Kisei Main Line (紀勢本線)
- San'in Main Line (山陰本線)
- Sanyō Main Line (山陽本線)
- Tōkaidō Main Line (東海道本線)
Regional lines
- Ako Line (赤穂線)
- Bantan Line (播但線)
- Fukuen Line (福塩線)
- Gantoku Line (岩徳線)
- Geibi Line (芸備線)
- Inbi Line (因美線)
- Kabe Line (可部線)
- Kakogawa Line (加古川線)
- Kibi Line (吉備線)
- Kishin Line (姫新線)
- Kisuki Line (木次線)
- Kure Line (呉線)
- Ohama Line (小浜線)
- Oito Line (大糸線)(Minamiotari - Itoigawa)
- Onoda Line (小野田線)
- Sakai Line (境線)
- Sanko Line (三江線)
- Tsuyama Line (津山線)
- Ube Line (宇部線)
- Uno Line (宇野線)
- Wakayama Line (和歌山線)
- Yamaguchi Line (山口線)
[edit] Other businesses
JR West subsidiaries include:
- Chūgoku JR Bus Company - Intercity bus operator
- Nippon Travel Agency
- Sagano Scenic Railway
- West Japan JR Bus Company - Intercity bus operator
- West Japan Railway Hotel Development Company - Owns the Hotel Granvia Kyoto
- West Japan Railway Isetan - A joint venture with Isetan; operates the Isetan department store in Kyoto Station
JR West also directly operates the JR Miyajima Ferry service between Hiroshima and the island of Miyajima.
[edit] External links
| Past:Japanese National Railways | JNR Settlement Corporation | |||||||||||||
| Passenger Railway Companies: | JR Hokkaido | JR East | JR Central | JR West | JR Shikoku | JR Kyushu | |||||||
| JR Bus Companies: | JR Bus Hokkaido | JR Bus Tohoku | JR Tokai Bus | West JR Bus | JR Shikoku Bus | JR Kyushu Bus | |||||||
| JR Bus Kanto | Chugoku JR Bus | ||||||||||||
| Others: | JR Freight | JR RTRI | JR Systems | ||||||||||
