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Japan Railway, more commonly called JR, is a collective term for seven
Japanese private railroad companies.
They are:
- JR Hokkaido or Hokkaido Railway Company (北海道旅客鉄道 or JR北海道)
- JR Higashi Nihon or East Japan Railway Company (東日本旅客鉄道 or JR東日本)
- JR Tokai or Central Japan Railway Company(東海旅客鉄道 or JR東海)
- JR Nishi Nihon or West Japan Railway Company (西日本旅客鉄道 or JR西日本)
- JR Shikoku or Shikoku Railway Company (四国旅客鉄道 or JR四国)
- JR Kyushu or Kyushu Railway Company (九州旅客鉄道 or JR九州)
- JR Kamotsu or Japan Freight Railway Company (日本貨物鉄道 or JR貨物)
- In addition, there is JR Soken (JR総研), a research institution.
History
Here is some history of the Japan Railway, according to information
provided by the Japan Railways Technical Research Institute ( http://www.rtri.or.jp/japanrail/JapanRail_E.html
):
- October 14, 1872 - Opening ceremony at both Shimbashi (now Shiodome)
and Yokohama(Now Sakuragicho)
- October 1, 1907 - 17 private railways taken over by the government
- December 20, 1914 - Opening of Tokyo Station
- November 1, 1925 - Inauguration of the Yamanote Loop Line
- December 30, 1927 - Inauguration of Tokyo subway between Asakusa and
Ueno
- June 1, 1949 - Japanese National Railway organized
- April 1, 1987 - Kokutetsu (Lit. Japanese National Railways; 国鉄 or
日本国有鉄道) was privatized and split into 11 companies.
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