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West Japan Railway Company

Contact Information
West Japan Railway Company
4-24, Shibata 2-chome, Kita-ku
Osaka 530-8341, Japan
Tel. +81-6-6375-8981
Fax +81-6-6375-8919

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.westjr.co.jp
Employees: 29,493
Employee growth: (4.1%)

It's a car. It's a plane. It's a shinkansen, or bullet train. West Japan Railway, known as JR-West, operates passenger train service in the western part of Japan's main island of Honshu, including connections between Osaka and Hakata. Its combined conventional and high-speed routes cover more than 5,000 km (about 3,125 miles) and incorporate more than 1,200 stations. The company also provides ferry services and has retail, hotel, and real estate operations connected with its rail network.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending March, 2006:
Sales: $10,545.8M
One year growth: (7.1%)
Net income: $395.6M
Income growth: (27.9%)

Officers:
President: Masao Yamazaki
VP and General Manager, Railway Operations Headquarters: Kazuaki Maruo
Deputy Senior General Manager, Railway Operations Headquarters and Senior General Manager Marketing Division, Railway Operations Headquarters: Koichi Inoue

Competitors:
Keihin Electric Express Railway
Keio Corporation
Tobu Railway

 
 
Wikipedia: West Japan Railway Company
Headquarters of JR West in Kita-ku, Osaka
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Headquarters of JR West in Kita-ku, Osaka
JR West's operating area is shown in dark blue; it includes the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area and the major cities of Okayama and Hiroshima
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JR West's operating area is shown in dark blue; it includes the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area and the major cities of Okayama and Hiroshima

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 Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshū.

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 1996. After JNRSC was dissolved in October 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.

Lines

100 Series Shikansen train
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100 Series Shikansen train

Sanyō Shinkansen

Main article: 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. The company also operates Hakata Minami Line, a short commuter line with Shinkansen trains in Fukuoka.

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 Hankyū 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).

223 Series EMU for the Urban Network
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223 Series EMU for the Urban Network

Those in italics are nicknames.

Intercity and regional lines

Limited Express Yakumo on the Hakubi Line
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Limited Express Yakumo on the Hakubi Line
Diesel train on the Tsuyama Line local service
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Diesel train on the Tsuyama Line local service

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

Regional lines

Other businesses

JR West logo
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JR West logo

JR West subsidiaries include:

  • Chūgoku JR Bus Company - Intercity bus operator
  • Nippon Travel Agency Co., Ltd
  • Sagano Scenic Railway
  • West JR Bus Company - Intercity bus operator
  • West Japan Railway Hotel Development Company - Owns 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.

External links

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