Native name 日本貨物鉄道株式会社 | Type Public KK Founded 1 April 1987 | |
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Services freight servicesother related services Number of employees 6,661 (as of April 1, 2010) Parent organization Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency | ||
Cab ride on japanese diesel locomotive jr freight class de10
Japan Freight Railway Company (日本貨物鉄道株式会社, Nihon Kamotsu Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), or JR Freight (JR貨物, Jeiāru Kamotsu), is one of the constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station.
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The Japan Railways Group was founded on April 1, 1987, when Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatized, and then divided into six regional companies and Japan Freight Railway Company. Although the passenger operation of JNR was split into six companies, fares and regulations are standard for all companies and every region of Japan except Okinawa is covered by the railway network spanning approximately 19,800 kilometres (12,300 mi).
Formerly part of JNR, the freight operation was not divided and became a single separate company when JNR was privatized and split. Although it has only about fifty kilometers of track of its own, it also operates on track owned by the JR passenger railways and other companies. The company uses the initials JRF as an abbreviated name for identification.
Economics
As of 2015, transporting freight by rail is rather unpopular in Japan. Trucks remain the most popular method of freight transport. JR Freight has seen its share of the freight market gradually decrease since 1993. There have been attempts to move freight traffic from road to rail, but JR Freight has run a deficit for many years.
Lines
While major part of the operation of JR Freight is on the tracks owned and maintained by other JR companies, JR Freight owns the railway lines (as Category-1 railway business) as follows:
Rolling stock
JR Freight owns a variety of rolling stock, including