Japan Freight Railway Company

Japan Freight Railway Company
Native name
日本貨物鉄道株式会社
Nippon Kamotsu Tetsudō kabushiki gaisha
TypeState-owned
PredecessorJapanese National Railways (JNR)
Founded1 April 1987; 39 years ago (1987-04-01)
(privatization of JNR)
Headquarters
5-33-8, Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo
,
Japan
Servicesfreight services
other related services
OwnerJapan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency
Number of employees
5,472 (as of April 1, 2021)
Websitewww.jrfreight.co.jp/en Edit this at Wikidata

Japan Freight Railway Company (Japanese: 日本貨物鉄道株式会社, Hepburn: Nippon Kamotsu Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), or JR Freight (JR貨物, Jeiāru Kamotsu), is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station.

The Japan Railways Group was founded on 1 April 1987, when Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatized. Japanese National Railways was divided into six regional passenger rail companies and a single freight railway company, Japan Freight Railway Company.

Economics

In 2017, only about 5% of all freight in Japan is carried by rail but nearly all of that, 99%, is carried by JR Freight. Trucks carry about 50% and ships about 44%. JR Freight has seen its share of the freight market gradually decrease since 1993.[citation needed] In the 2010s JR Freight has been carrying more freight because of the decrease in the number of available truck drivers due to age as well as government policy to reduce carbon dioxide. JR Freight has run a deficit for many years.

Lines

Umeda Freight Terminal in Osaka in June 2011

While major part of the operation of JR Freight is on the tracks owned and maintained by the other six JR Group railways, JR Freight owns 47.8 kilometres (29.7 mi) of track as follows:

LineEndpointsLocaleDistance
(km)
HokurikuTsuruga Station - Tsuruga-Minato Freight TerminalFukui2.7
KagoshimaMojikō Station - Sotohama Freight TerminalFukuoka0.9
Chihaya Yard - Fukuoka Freight Terminal2.2
KansaiYokkaichi Station - Shiohama StationMie3.3
Hirano Station - Kudara Freight TerminalOsaka1.4
NippōObase-Nishikōdai-mae Station - Kandakō Freight TerminalFukuoka4.6
ŌuTsuchizaki Station - Akitakō Freight TerminalAkita1.8
SensekiRikuzen-Yamashita Station - Ishinomakikō Freight TerminalMiyagi1.8
Shin'etsuKami-Nuttari Junction - Nuttari Freight TerminalNiigata1.8
Kami-Nuttari Junction - Higashi-Niigatakō Freight Terminal3.8
ShinminatoNōmachi Station - Takaoka Freight TerminalToyama1.9
TohokuTabata Freight Terminal - Kita-Ōji Freight TerminalTokyo4.0
TōkaidōSannō Junction - Nagoya-Minato Freight TerminalAichi6.2
Suita Freight Terminal - Osaka Freight TerminalOsaka8.7
UetsuSakata Station - Sakatakō Freight TerminalYamagata2.7

Rolling stock

As of 1 March 2017, JR Freight owns and operates the following rolling stock:

Former rolling stock

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Japan Freight Railway Company. "Corporate Overview". Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Japan firms shifting to trains to move freight amid dearth of new truckers". The Japan Times Online. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  3. ↑ WISETJINDAWAT, W.; et al. (2015). "Rare Mode Choice in Freight Transport: Modal Shift from Road to Rail". Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies. 11: 774–787. doi:10.11175/easts.11.774.
  4. ↑ JR貨物 機関車配置表 [JR Freight locomotive allocation list]. Tetsudo Daiya Joho Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 46, no. 400. Japan: Kotsu Shimbun. August 2017. p. 42.