# Japan Railways Group

The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as the JR Group (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.
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 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 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.

## Background

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 the Japanese National Railways in 1987.
The seven JR companies recorded a total profit of ¥ 88.9 million in 1988.

## Ownership

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 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.

## Companies

Hokkaido  East  Central
 West  Shikoku  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 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 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 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".
| Business | Logo and color | Company | Type | Traded as | Region(s) of operation | Note |
| Passenger | Grass | Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) | Kabushiki gaisha | Not listed Owned by JRTT | Hokkaidō | operates Hokkaidō Shinkansen in Hokkaido |
| Passenger | Forest | East Japan Railway Company (JR East) | Kabushiki gaisha | TYO: 9020 Nikkei 225 component TOPIX Large70 component | Tōhoku, Kantō, Hokuriku, Kōshin'etsu | operates Tōhoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen, Akita Shinkansen, Jōetsu Shinkansen and Hokuriku Shinkansen (with JR West) |
| Passenger | Pumpkin | Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) | Kabushiki gaisha | TYO: 9022 NAG: 9022 Nikkei 225 component (TYO) TOPIX Large70 component (TYO) | Chūbu (including Tōkai, its Japanese eponym) | operates Tōkaidō Shinkansen in Kantō and Kansai |
| Passenger | Ocean | West Japan Railway Company (JR West) | Kabushiki gaisha | TYO: 9021 Nikkei 225 component TOPIX Large70 component | Hokuriku, Kansai, Chūgoku, Kyūshū | operates Sanyō Shinkansen in Kansai, Chūgoku and Kyushu and Hokuriku Shinkansen (with JR East) in Hokuriku |
| Passenger | Sky | Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku) | Kabushiki gaisha | Not listed Owned by JRTT | Shikoku | |
| Passenger | Scarlet | Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) | Kabushiki gaisha | TYO: 9142 FSE: 9142 | Kyūshū | operates Kyūshū Shinkansen in Kyūshū |
| Freight | Slate | Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) | Kabushiki gaisha | Not listed Owned by JRTT | Nationwide | |
| IT Services | Burgundy | Railway Information Systems Co., Ltd. [ja] (JR Systems) | Kabushiki gaisha | Not listed Owned by the 7 railway companies above | Nationwide | develops, operates and manages computer systems, including MARS (ticket reservation system) |
| Research & Development | Lavender | Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) | Public Interest Incorporated Foundation [ja] | A non-profit organization funded by the 7 railway companies above | Nationwide | conducts research and development of railway-related technologies, such as SCMaglev |

## Network

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 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.

## Unions

Various unions represent workers at 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.