Nippon Railway

Nippon Railway
Locale Japan
Dates of operation 1883–1906
Successor Japanese Government Railways
Track gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Length 860.8 miles (1906)
Headquarters Tokyo

Nippon Railway (日本鉄道 Nippon Tetsudō) was the first private railway company in the history of Japan. The company built trunk lines connecting Tokyo with the Tōhoku region to the northeast. Most of its lines came under the control of Japanese Government Railways following nationalization in 1906, and many are now operated by East Japan Railway Company.

Outline

The company was incorporated in 1881 as the first privately funded railway company in Japan, where the railways had been built only by the imperial government since early 1870s. If, however, the definition of "railway" includes horsecars, Nippon Railway is behind Tokyo Bashatetsudō, established in 1880 as the first private railway in Japan.

Major investors to the company were kazoku, led by the highest-class court noble Iwakura Tomomi. The company, incorporated to help expansion of national railway network in line with the national policy, received strong support from the government in both technically and financially.

The first 38 miles (61 km) of the railway, between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Kumagaya Station in Kumagaya, Saitama, opened on July 28, 1883.[1] The mainline to Aomori was completed in 1891. [2]

The company expanded the railway by means of both construction and acquisition of other companies. As of 1906, it operated 860.8 miles (1,385.3 km) of railways including the present-day Tōhoku Main Line, Jōban Line, Takasaki Line and Yamanote Line.

On November 1, 1906, the entire operation of the company was purchased by the government of Japan under the Railway Nationalization Act. Consequently the company was dissolved.

List of lines

Operation of Nippon Railway as of October 31, 1906[3]
Endpoints Length
(miles)		 Line names
(designated after nationalization)		 Notes
Ueno – Aomori456.9Tōhoku Main Line
Nippori – Mikawashima0.8Jōban Line
Ōmiya – Maebashi52.5Takasaki Line, Ryōmō Line
Oyama – Maebashi50.9Ryōmō Line
Oyama – Tomobe31.4Mito Line
Tabata – Iwanuma213.6Jōban Line
Tabata – Ikebukuro3.3Yamanote Line
Shinagawa – Akabane13.0Yamanote Line, Akabane Line
Utsunomiya – Nikkō25.0Nikkō Line
Iwakiri – Shiogama4.3Shiogama Line
Shiriuchi (present-day Hachinohe) – Minato5.1Hachinohe Line
Ueno – Akihabara1.2Tōhoku Main LineFreight
Mikawashima – Sumidagawa2.0Jōban LineFreight
Mito – Nakagawa0.8Jōban LineFreight
Total860.8

Rolling stock

Fleet of Nippon Railway[4]
YearSteam
locomotives		Passenger
cars		Freight cars etc.
WagonsTrucks
189054158763
19002868241,6461,957
19053568572,3453,386

Notes

  1. ↑ Ishino, p. 323, vol. I
  2. ↑ Free, Early Japanese Railways 1853–1914: Engineering Triumphs That Transformed Meiji-era Japan, Tuttle Publishing, 2008 (ISBN 4805310065)
  3. ↑ Ishino, p. 324, vol. I
  4. ↑ Wakuda, p. 64

References