The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987.
Network
Railways
As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
() railways in all 46 prefectures of Japan. This figure expanded to in 1981 (excluding Shinkansen), but later reduced to as of March 31, 1987, the last day of JNR.
JNR operated both passenger and freight services.
Shinkansen
Shinkansen
The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...
, the world's first
high-speed railway was debuted by JNR in 1964. By the end of JNR in 1987, four lines were constructed:
;
Tōkaidō Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...
: , completed in 1964
;
Sanyō Shinkansen
, stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...
: , completed in 1975
;
Tōhoku Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line, connecting Tokyo with Aomori in Aomori Prefecture in a route length of , making it Japan's longest Shinkansen line. It runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main ...
: , as of 1987
;
Jōetsu Shinkansen: , completed in 1982
Buses
JNR operated bus lines as feeders, supplements or substitutions of railways. Unlike railway operation, JNR Bus was not superior to other local bus operators. The
JR Bus companies are the successors of the bus operation of JNR.
Ships
JNR operated ferries to connect railway networks separated by sea or to meet other local demands:
;Kanmon Ferry (discontinued in 1964):
Shimonoseki Station (
Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsushi ...
) –
Mojikō Station (
Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka)
;
Miyajima Ferry:
Miyajimaguchi Station (
Ōno, Hiroshima) – Miyajima Station (
Miyajima, Hiroshima)
;Nihori Ferry (discontinued in 1982):
Nigata Station (
Kure, Hiroshima) –
Horie Station (
Matsuyama, Ehime)
;Ōshima Ferry (discontinued in 1976):
Ōbatake Station (
Yanai, Yamaguchi) – Komatsukō Station (
Suō-Ōshima, Yamaguchi)
;Seikan Ferry:
Aomori Station
is a railway station in the city of Aomori in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The station has been operating since September 1891, though the most recent station building, which consists of three island platforms connected to the station building by a ...
(
Aomori, Aomori
is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total are ...
) –
Hakodate Station
is a railway station on the Hakodate Main Line in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido).
Lines
*South Hokkaido Railway Company Dōnan Isaribi Tetsudō Line (Normally ends at Goryōkaku, but trains ge ...
(
Hakodate, Hokkaidō
is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.83 ...
)
;Ukō Ferry:
Uno Station (
Tamano, Okayama) –
Takamatsu Station (
Takamatsu, Kagawa)
Out of three routes assigned to JR companies in 1987, only the Miyajima Ferry remains active as of 2010.
Unions
A number of unions represented workers at JNR, including the
National Railway Workers' Union
The is a Japanese trade union, which is usually referred to as in Japanese. Historically, Kokurō represented many of the workers who worked for Japanese National Railways (JNR), from which the union derived its name. For several decades in th ...
(Kokuro), the
National Railway Locomotive Engineers' Union (Doro), and Doro-Chiba, a break-away group from Doro.
History
The term ''Kokuyū Tetsudō'' "state-owned railway" originally referred to a network of railway lines operated by 17 private companies that were
nationalized
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...
following the
Railway Nationalization Act of 1906 and placed under the control of the Railway Institute. Later, the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications took over control of the network. The ministries used the name
Japanese Government Railways (JGR) to refer their network in English. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, many JGR lines were dismantled to supply steel for the war effort.
On June 1, 1949, by a directive of the
U.S. General HQ in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, JGR was reorganized into Japanese National Railways, a state-owned
public corporation. JNR enjoyed many successes, including the inauguration of high-speed
Shinkansen
The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...
service along the
Tōkaidō Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...
line on October 1, 1964. However, JNR was not a state-run corporation; its accounting was independent from the national budget. Rural sections without enough passengers began to press its management, pulling it further and further into debt. In 1983, JNR started to close its unprofitable
83 local lines (the closure continued three years after the privatization).
By 1987, JNR's debt was over ¥27 trillion ($442 billion at 2021 exchange rates) and the company was spending ¥147 ($2.40 in 2021 dollars) for every ¥100 ($1.63 in 2021 dollars) earned.
By an act of the
Diet of Japan, on April 1, 1987, JNR was
privatized and divided into seven railway companies, six passenger and one freight, collectively called the
Japan Railways Group
The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as the or simply JR, consists of seven for-profit stock companies that took over most of the assets and operations of the government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. Mo ...
or JR Group. Long-term liabilities of JNR were taken over by the
Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation. That corporation was subsequently disbanded on October 22, 1998, and its remaining debts were transferred to the national budget's general accounting. By this time the debt has risen to ¥30 trillion ($491 billion in 2021 dollars).
JNR dismissal lawsuit
Many lawsuits and labor commission cases were filed over the decades from the privatization in 1987. Kokuro and the
National Railway Locomotive Engineers' Union (Zendoro), both prominent Japanese railway unions, represented a number of the JNR workers.
Lists of workers to be employed by the new organizations were drawn up by JNR and given to the JR companies. There was substantial pressure on union members to leave their unions, and within a year, the membership of the
National Railway Workers' Union
The is a Japanese trade union, which is usually referred to as in Japanese. Historically, Kokurō represented many of the workers who worked for Japanese National Railways (JNR), from which the union derived its name. For several decades in th ...
(Kokuro) fell from 200,000 to 44,000. Workers who had supported the privatization, or those who left Kokuro, were hired at substantially higher rates than Kokuro members.
There was a government pledge that no one would be "thrown out onto the street",
[The Japan Time]
Top court rules against ex-JNR workers December 23, 2003
Retrieved on August 6, 2012 and so unhired workers were classified as "needing to be employed" and were transferred to the
JNR Settlement Corporation, where they could be assigned for up to three years. Around 7,600 workers were transferred in this way, and around 2,000 of them were hired by JR firms, and 3,000 found work elsewhere. Mitomu Yamaguchi, a former JNR employee from
Tosu in
Saga prefecture who had been transferred to the JNR Settlement Corporation, later stated that their help in finding work consisted of giving him photocopies of recruitment ads from newspapers.
This period ended in April 1990, and 1,047 were dismissed. This included 64 Zendoro members and 966 Kokuro members.
Twenty-three years after the original privatization, on June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court settled the dispute between the workers and the
Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, the successor body to the JNR Settlement Corporation. The agency said it would pay 20 billion yen, approximately 22 million yen per worker, to 904 plaintiffs. However, as the workers were not reinstated, it was not a full settlement.
Baseball team
Between 1950 and 1965, JNR indirectly owned a
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
team named .
Swallow
The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...
was a symbol of JNR as it is the English equivalent of the Japanese ''
Tsubame'', the name of a deluxe train operated by JNR in the 1950s. JNR sold the team to the
Sankei Shinbun in 1965, and called the Atoms from 1966 to 1973; the team is now the
Tokyo Yakult Swallows and has been owned by the
Yakult company since 1970.
Accidents and criminal incidents
Accidents
JNR as a public corporation (from 1949 to 1987) experienced five major accidents (including two shipwrecks of railway ferries) with casualties more than 100:
;
''Sakuragichō'' train fire: A train fire at
Sakuragichō Station
is an interchange passenger railway station located in Naka-ku, Yokohama, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the Yokohama Municipal Subway.
Lines
Sakuragichō Station is served by the Negishi Line from to in Kanagawa ...
in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
on April 24, 1951, killed 106.
;
''Tōya Maru'' disaster: A Seikan ferryboat sank off
Hakodate killing 1,155 in a
typhoon storm on September 26, 1954.
;
''Shiun Maru'' disaster: An Ukō ferryboat collided with a fellow boat in a dense fog and sank killing 168 on May 11, 1955.
;
''Mikawashima'' train crash: A three-train collision near
Mikawashima Station in Tokyo on May 3, 1962, killed 160.
;
''Tsurumi'' rail accident: A three-train collision near
Tsurumi Station
is a railway station in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
Lines
Tsurumi Station is an interchange between the Keihin-Tōhoku Line and the Tsurumi Line (of which it is a terminus ...
in Yokohama on November 9, 1963, killed 161.
Criminal incidents
In its very early days as a public corporation, JNR experienced a series of mysterious incidents as follows. Although the police at that time treated them as
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
by the
communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, doubts have been raised as to the validity of this conclusion.
;
''Shimoyama'' incident : The dismembered body of JNR President Sadanori Shimoyama was found on a railway track on July 5, 1949. The possibility of non-criminal suicide has not been ruled out.
;
''Mitaka'' incident : A train running without crew crashed into passengers and killed six people on July 15, 1949.
;
''Matsukawa'' derailment : A train was derailed because of destroyed track and three crew were killed on August 17, 1949.
In later years, JNR was a target of
radical leftists. On October 21, 1968, groups of extremist students celebrating "International Antiwar Day" occupied and vandalized
Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. They criticized JNR's collaboration in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
by operating freight trains carrying
jet fuel for U.S. military use. On November 29, 1985,
militants supporting a radical sect of JNR's
labor union objecting to the privatization of JNR damaged signal cables at 33 points around Tokyo and Osaka to halt thousands of commuter trains and then set fire to
Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo.
As such, relationships with labor unions were always a difficult problem for JNR. Since public workers were prohibited to
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
, they carried out "work-to-rule protests" that caused trains to be delayed. On March 13, 1973, train delays caused by such protests resulted in a
riot of angered passengers at
Ageo Station in Saitama Prefecture. From November 26, 1975, to December 3, 1975, major labor unions of JNR conducted an eight-day-long illegal "strike for the right to strike", which resulted in a total defeat of the unions.
See also
*
Japan Railways locomotive numbering and classification
*
SoftBank Telecom – former Japan Telecom, an affiliated company of JNR established in 1984
Notes
References
External links
Japan Railways Technical Research Institute: Brief history of Japanese railways
{{Authority control
Defunct railway companies of Japan
Government-owned railway companies
Railway companies established in 1949
Railway companies disestablished in 1987
Privatized companies of Japan