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West Japan Railway Company

The company headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka
Native name	西日本旅客鉄道株式会社
Type	Public (K.K)
Traded as	TYO: 9021 OSE: 9021 NSE: 9021 FSE: 9021 TOPIX Large 70 Component
Industry	Rail transport
Predecessor	Japanese National Railways (JNR)
Founded	Osaka, Japan (April 1, 1987 (1987-04-01), privatization of JNR)
Headquarters	4-24 Shibata 2-chome, Kita-ku, Osaka, 530-8341 , Japan
Area served	Kansai region Chugoku region Hokuriku region Shin'etsu region
Key people	Takayuki Sasaki (Executive Chairman of the Board)[1] Seiji Manabe (Representative Director and President)[1]
Products	ICOCA (a rechargeable contactless smart card)
Services	passenger railways bus services sales of goods and food services real estate other related businesses [2]
Revenue	¥1,298,913 million (FY 2013)[3]
Operating income	¥129,497 million (FY 2013)[3]
Net income	¥60,198 million (FY 2013)[3]
Total assets	¥2,613,743 million (FY 2013)[3]
Total equity	¥768,174 million (FY 2013)[3]
Owner	Japan Trustee Services Bank (4.93%) The Master Trust Bank of Japan (3.89%) Mizuho Corporate Bank (3.33%) Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (3.30%) The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (3.25%) West Japan Railway Employee Shareholding Association (2.43%) Japan Trustee Services Bank (Trust Arm No. 9) (2.19%) Nippon Life (2.06%) SSBT OD05 OMNIBUS ACCOUNT—TREATY CLIENTS (2.06%) Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (1.65%) (as of 31 March 2013)[1]
Number of employees	consolidated: 45,402 non-consolidated: 26,778 (as of March 31, 2012) [4]
Divisions	Railway operations Shinkansen management [2]
Subsidiaries	64 consolidated subsidiaries including Sagano Scenic Railway [2]
Website	westjr.co.jp

West Japan Railway Company (西日本旅客鉄道株式会社, Nishi-Nihon Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), 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 Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka.^[2]

Lines

Shinkansen

• 
  Hokuriku Shinkansen (Jōetsumyōkō - Kanazawa)


• Sanyo Shinkansen


• Hakata Minami Line

JR-West's highest-grossing line is the Sanyo Shinkansen high-speed rail line between Osaka and Fukuoka. The Sanyo 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 Hankyu Railway/Hanshin Railway (Hankyu bought Hanshin in 2005), Keihan 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).

Those in italics are announcement names.

• Akō Line


• Biwako Line


• 
  Gakkentoshi Line
  
  • Officially Katamachi Line
    


• Hanwa Line


• Kansai Airport Line


• JR Kobe Line


• Kosei Line


• JR Kyoto Line


• Nara Line


• Osaka Loop Line


• Osaka Higashi Line


• Sagano Line


• Sakurai Line


• JR Takarazuka Line


• JR Tōzai Line


• Yamatoji Line


• Wakayama Line


• 
  JR Yumesaki Line
  
  • Officially Sakurajima Line
    

• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  A 223 series EMU used on the Urban Network
  

  
  

  
  

Intercity and regional lines

A number of other lines account for more than half of JR-West's track mileage. These lines mainly 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

• 
  Fukuchiyama Line
  
  • Includes JR Takarazuka Line.


• Hakubi Line


• 
  Hokuriku Main Line
  
  • Includes Biwako Line.


• 
  Honshi-Bisan Line, Chayamachi — Kojima
  
  • Nicknamed Seto-Ōhashi Line
    


• 
  Kansai Main Line, Kameyama — JR Namba
  
  • Includes Yamatoji Line.


• 
  Kisei Main Line, Shingū — Wakayamashi
  
  • Includes Kinokuni Line.


• 
  San'in Main Line
  
  • Includes Sagano Line.


• 
  Sanyō Main Line, Kobe — Shimonoseki, Hyōgo — Wadamisaki.
  
  • Includes JR Kobe Line.


• 
  Takayama Main Line, Inotani — Toyama


• 
  Tōkaidō Main Line, Maibara — Kobe
  
  • Includes Biwako Line, JR Kyoto Line, and JR Kobe Line.

Regional lines

• Bantan Line


• 
  Etsumi-Hoku Line
  
  • Nicknamed Kuzuryū Line
    


• Fukuen Line


• Gantoku Line


• Geibi Line


• Himi Line


• Imbi Line


• Jōhana Line


• Kabe Line


• Kakogawa Line


• Kibi Line


• Kishin Line


• Kisuki Line


• 
  Kure Line
  
  • Includes Setouchi Sazanami Line
    


• Kusatsu Line


• Maizuru Line


• Mine Line


• Nanao Line


• Obama Line


• 
  Ōito Line, Minami-Otari — Itoigawa


• Onoda Line


• Sakai Line


• Sankō Line


• Tsuyama Line


• Ube Line


• Uno Line


• Yamaguchi Line

• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Limited Express Yakumo on the Hakubi Line
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  A diesel train on a Tsuyama Line express service
  

  
  

  
  

Other businesses

JR-West subsidiaries include the following.

• West Japan Railway Hotel Development Company - Owns Hotel Granvia Kyoto, Hotel Granvia Osaka, Hotel Granvia Wakayama, Hotel Granvia Okayama, Hotel Granvia Hiroshima, Nara Hotel, Sannomiya Terminal Hotel and Hotel Hopinn Aming


• West Japan Railway Isetan - A joint venture with Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd; operates the Isetan department store in Kyoto Station
  


• West JR Bus Company - Intercity bus operator


• Chūgoku JR Bus Company - Intercity bus operator


• Japan Railway West Trading Co.


• 
  Nippon Travel Agency Co., Ltd


• Sagano Scenic Railway


• JR-West Miyajima Ferry Company - operator of JR Miyajima Ferry service to the island of Miyajima
  

History

JR-West was incorporated as a business corporation (kabushiki kaisha) on April 1, 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 (JNRSC), 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 US$7.2 billion) in long-term payable debt.^{[citation needed]}

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 the Fukuoka Stock Exchange.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JR West.

• Official website

v t e JR Group
past: Japanese Government Railways | Japanese National Railways | JNR Settlement Corporation
Passenger Railway Companies	JR Hokkaido	JR East	JR Central	JR-West	JR Shikoku	JR Kyushu
JR Bus Companies	JR Hokkaido Bus	JR Bus Tohoku	JR Tokai Bus	West JR Bus	JR Shikoku Bus [ja]	JR Kyushu Bus [ja]
		JR Bus Kanto [ja]		Chugoku JR Bus [ja]
		JR Bustech [ja]
Smart cards	Kitaca	Suica	TOICA	ICOCA	ICOCA (SHIKOKU ICOCA)	SUGOCA
Others	JR Freight	RTRI	JR Systems [ja]
Description companies	JRTT
International operations	West Midlands Trains (JR East: 14.95%)
See also	Shinkansen - Railway Museum - Modern Transportation Museum - SCMaglev and Railway Park - SoftBank Telecom