East Japan Railway Company

The East Japan Railway Company[9] is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST[10] or JR East in English, and as JR Higashi-Nihon (JR東日本, Jeiāru Higashi-Nihon) in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, and next to the Shinjuku Station.[2] It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange (it formerly had secondary listings in the Nagoya and Osaka stock exchanges), is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and is also one of the three only Japan Railways Group constituents of the Nikkei 225 index, the other being JR Central and JR West.

Commuter trains on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo
HB-E210 series hybrid DMU on Senseki Line
Special steam train on the Jōetsu Line in Gunma Prefecture
JR 205 Series in Keiyo Depot
Ticket machines in Saitama-Shintoshin Station Bottom JR 205 Series in Keiyo Depot
Smart card turnstile in Tokyo Station

East Japan Railway Company
Native name
東日本旅客鉄道株式会社
Higashi-Nihon Ryokaku Tetsudō kabushiki gaisha
lit. "East Japan Passenger Railway Share Company"
TypePublic (Kabushiki gaisha)
Traded as
  • TYO: 9020
  • Nikkei 225 component
  • TOPIX Large70 component
IndustryRail transport
PredecessorJapanese National Railways (JNR)
Founded1 April 1987 (1987-04-01), privatization of JNR
Headquarters
2-2-2 Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo
,
Japan
Area served
Kanto and Tōhoku regions
Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures
Key people
Tetsuro Tomita (Chairman of the Board)[1]
Masaki Ogata (Vice Chairman of the Board)[1]
Yuji Fukasawa (President, Representative Director)[1]
ProductsSuica (a rechargeable contactless smart card)
ServicesPassenger railways[2]
freight services[2]
bus transportation[2]
other related services[2]
Revenue
  • ¥2,867,200 million(FY 2016)[3]
  • ¥2,756,165 million(FY 2015)
  • ¥487,821 million(FY 2016)[3]
  • ¥427,522 million(FY 2015)
  • ¥245,310 million(FY 2016)[3]
  • ¥180,398 million(FY 2015)
Total assets
  • ¥7,789,762 million(FY 2016)[3]
  • ¥7,605,690 million(FY 2015)
Total equity
  • ¥2,442,129 million(FY 2016)[3]
  • ¥2,285,658 million(FY 2015)
OwnerJTSB investment trusts (8.21%)
Mizuho Bank (4.07%)
TMTBJ investment trusts (3.97%)
MUFG Bank (2.75%)
Repurchased shares (2.67%)
(as of 30 September 2018)
Number of employees
73,017 (as of 31 March 2013)[1]
DivisionsRailway operations[4]
Life-style business[4]
IT & Suica business[4]
Subsidiaries83 companies,[5][6]
including Tokyo Monorail and J-TREC
Websitewww.jreast.co.jp
Footnotes / references
[7][8]
  East Japan Railway Company
Line up of JR East Shinkansen trains, October 2009
Operation
National railwayJapan Railways Group
Infrastructure companyJapan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency
Statistics
Ridership6.169 billion per year[6]
Passenger km130.5 billion per year[6]
System length
Total7,526.8 km (4,676.9 mi)[6]
Double track3,668 km (2,279 mi) (49%)[6]
Electrified5,512.7 km (3,425.4 mi) (73.2%)[6]
High-speed1,052.9 km (654.2 mi) (14.0%)[6]
Track gauge
Main1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
High-speed1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification
Main1,500 V DC overhead catenary 2,680.3 km (1,665.5 mi)[6]
20 kV AC, 50 Hz1,779.5 km (1,105.7 mi)[6]
Conventional lines in Tohoku
Joban Line (Fujishiro-Iwanuma)
Mito Line
25 kV AC, 50/60 Hz overhead　1,052.9 km (654.2 mi)[6]
Tohoku Shinkansen (50 Hz)
Joetsu Shinkansen (50 Hz)
Hokuriku Shinkansen (50/60 Hz)
Features
No. tunnels1,263[6]
Tunnel length882 km (548 mi)[6]
Longest tunnelThe Seikan Tunnel 53,850 m (176,670 ft)
Hokkaido Shinkansen[6]
No. bridges14,865[6]
Longest bridgeNo.1 Kitakami River Bridge 3,868 m (12,690 ft)
Tohoku Shinkansen[6]
No. stations1,703[2]
Map
Shinkansen lines
Conventional lines
Greater Tokyo Area Network Map
Suica and PASMO Network Map

History

JR East was incorporated on 1 April 1987 after being spun off from the government-run Japanese National Railways (JNR). The spin-off was nominally "privatization", as the company was actually a wholly owned subsidiary of the government-owned JNR Settlement Corporation for several years, and was not completely sold to the public until 2002.

Following the breakup, JR East ran the operations on former JNR lines in the Greater Tokyo Area, the Tōhoku region, and surrounding areas.

Lines

Railway lines of JR East primarily serve the Kanto and Tohoku regions, along with adjacent areas in Kōshin'etsu region (Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi) and Shizuoka prefectures.

Shinkansen

JR East operates all of the Shinkansen, high-speed rail lines, north of Tokyo, except the Hokkaido Shinkansen, which is operated by JR Hokkaido.

  • Tōhoku Shinkansen (Tokyo - Shin-Aomori)
  • Jōetsu Shinkansen (Tokyo - Niigata; Echigo-Yuzawa - Gala Yuzawa)
  • Hokuriku Shinkansen (Tokyo - Jōetsumyōkō)
  • Yamagata Shinkansen (Tokyo - Shinjo)
  • Akita Shinkansen (Tokyo - Akita)

The Tokyo–Osaka Tōkaidō Shinkansen is owned and operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), although it stops at several JR East stations.

Kanto regional lines

These lines have sections inside the Tokyo suburban area (Japanese: 東京近郊区間) designated by JR East. This does not necessarily mean that the lines are fully inside the Greater Tokyo Area.

  • ■ Agatsuma Line (Shibukawa - Omae)
  • CO Chūō Main Line (Tokyo - Shiojiri)
  • JC Chūō Rapid Line (Tokyo - Otsuki)
  • JB Chūō-Sōbu Line (Mitaka - Chiba)
  • ■ Hachiko Line (Hachioji - Kuragano)
  • JT Ito Line (Atami - Ajiro - Ito)
  • JC Itsukaichi Line (Haijima - Musashi-Itsukaichi)
  • JJ JL Jōban Line (Ueno - Iwaki)
  • ■ Jōetsu Line (Takasaki - Minakami)
  • ■ Karasuyama Line (Hoshakuji - Ogane - Karasuyama)
  • ■ Kashima Line (Katori - Kashima Soccer Stadium)
  • ■ Kawagoe Line (Omiya - Komagawa)
  • JK Keihin–Tōhoku Line (Omiya - Yokohama)
  • JE Keiyo Line (Tokyo - Soga; Ichikawa-Shiohama - Nishi-Funabashi; Minami-Funabashi - Nishi-Funabashi)
  • ■ Kururi Line (Kisarazu - Kazusa-Kameyama)
  • ■ Mito Line (Oyama - Tomobe)
  • JM Musashino Line (Fuchu-Hommachi - Nishi-Funabashi) (Tokyo outer loop)
  • JN Nambu Line (Kawasaki - Tachikawa; Shitte - Hamakawasaki)
  • ■ Narita Line (Sakura - Choshi; Abiko - Narita; Narita - Narita Airport)
  • JK Negishi Line (Yokohama - Ofuna)
  • ■ Nikko Line (Utsunomiya - Nikko)
  • JC Ome Line (Tachikawa - Okutama)
  • ■ Ryomo Line (Oyama - Shin-Maebashi)
  • ■ Sagami Line (Hashimoto - Chigasaki)
  • JA Saikyo Line (Osaki - Omiya)
  • JS Shōnan–Shinjuku Line (Shin-Maebashi - Odawara; Utsunomiya - Zushi)
  • ■ Sobu Main Line (Tokyo - Choshi)
  • ■ Sotobo Line (Chiba - Awa-Kamogawa)
  • JU Takasaki Line (Omiya - Takasaki)
  • ■ Togane Line (Naruto - Oami)
  • JU Tohoku Main Line (Utsunomiya Line) (Ueno - Kuroiso)
  • JT Tokaido Main Line (Tokyo - Atami)
  • JI Tsurumi Line (Tsurumi - Ogimachi; Anzen - Okawa; Asano - Umi-Shibaura)
  • ■ Uchibo Line (Soga - Awa-Kamogawa)
  • ■ Ueno–Tokyo Line (Maebashi - Numazu; Utsunomiya-Numazu; Atami-Ito; Takahagi - Shinagawa; Narita - Abiko)
  • JY Yamanote Line (Osaki - Osaki)
  • JH Yokohama Line (Higashi-Kanagawa - Hachioji)
  • JO Yokosuka Line (Tokyo - Kurihama)

Koshinetsu regional lines
  • ■ Chūō Main Line (Nirasaki - Shiojiri; Okaya - Midoriko Siojiri)
  • ■ Echigo Line (Niigata - Kashiwazaki)
  • ■ Hakushin Line (Niigata - Shibata)
  • ■ Iiyama Line (Toyono - Echigo-Kawaguchi)
  • ■ Joetsu Line (Minakami - Miyauchi; Echigo-Yuzawa - Gala-Yuzawa)
  • ■ Koumi Line (Kobuchizawa - Komoro)
  • ■ Oito Line (Matsumoto - Minami-Otari)
  • ■ Shinetsu Main Line (Takasaki - Yokokawa; Shinonoi - Niigata)
  • ■ Shinonoi Line (Shinonoi - Shiojiri)
  • ■ Yahiko Line (Higashi-Sanjo - Yahiko)

Tohoku regional lines
  • ■ Aterazawa Line (Kita-Yamagata - Aterazawa)
  • ■ Ban'etsu East Line (Iwaki - Koriyama)
  • ■ Ban'etsu West Line (Koriyama - Niitsu)
  • ■ Gonō Line (Higashi-Noshiro - Kawabe)
  • ■ Hachinohe Line (Hachinohe - Kuji)
  • ■ Hanawa Line (Odate - Koma)
  • ■ Ishinomaki Line (Kogota - Onagawa)
  • ■ Jōban Line (Iwaki - Iwanuma)
  • ■ Kamaishi Line (Hanamaki - Kamaishi)
  • ■ Kesennuma Line (Maeyachi - Kesennuma)
  • ■ Kitakami Line (Kitakami - Yokote)
  • ■ Ofunato Line (Ichinoseki - Sakari)
  • ■ Oga Line (Oiwake - Oga)
  • ■ Ominato Line (Noheji - Ominato)
  • ■ Ōu Main Line (Fukushima - Aomori) (Yamagata Line, Fukushima - Shinjō)
  • ■ Rikuu East Line (Kogota - Shinjo)
  • ■ Rikuu West Line (Shinjo - Amarume)
  • ■ Senseki Line (Aobadori - Ishinomaki)
  • ■ Senseki-Tōhoku Line
  • ■ Senzan Line (Sendai - Uzen-Chitose)
  • ■ Suigun Line (Mito - Asaka-Nagamori; Kamisugaya - Hitachi-Ota)
  • ■ Tadami Line (Aizu-Wakamatsu - Koide)
  • ■ Tazawako Line (Morioka - Ōmagari)
  • ■ Tohoku Main Line (Kuroiso - Morioka; Iwakiri - Rifu)
  • ■ Tsugaru Line (Aomori - Mimmaya)
  • ■ Uetsu Main Line (Niitsu - Akita)
  • ■ Yamada Line (Morioka - Miyako)
  • ■ Yonesaka Line (Yonezawa - Sakamachi)

Train services

Below is the full list of limited express (including Shinkansen) and express train services operated on JR East lines as of 2022.

Shinkansen
  • Asama
  • Hakutaka
  • Hayabusa
  • Hayate
  • Kagayaki
  • Komachi
  • Nasuno
  • Tanigawa/Max Tanigawa
  • Toki/Max Toki
  • Tsubasa
  • Yamabiko

Limited express (daytime)
  • Akagi/Swallow Akagi
  • Azusa
  • Fuji Excursion
  • Hitachi and Tokiwa
  • Inaho
  • Kaiji/View Kaiji/Hamakaiji
  • Kusatsu
  • Narita Express
  • Nikkō and Kinugawa
  • Saphir Odoriko/Odoriko
  • Sazanami
  • Shirayuki
  • Shiosai
  • Shōnan
  • Tsugaru
  • Wakashio

Limited express (overnight)
  • Sunrise Izumo/Sunrise Seto (not operated by JR East, operated by JR Central and JR-West over the Tokaido Main Line, part of which JR East owns between Tokyo and Atami)[11]

Stations

During fiscal 2017, the busiest stations in the JR East network by average daily passenger count were:[12]

  1. Shinjuku Station (778,618)
  2. Ikebukuro Station (566,516)
  3. Tokyo Station (452,549)
  4. Yokohama Station (420,192)
  5. Shinagawa Station (378,566)
  6. Shibuya Station (370,669)
  7. Shimbashi Station (277,404)
  8. Omiya Station (255,147)
  9. Akihabara Station (250,251)
  10. Kita-Senju Station (217,838)

Subsidiaries
JR East headquarters (JR東日本本社ビル), located near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo
  • Higashi-Nihon Kiosk - provides newspapers, drinks and other items in station kiosks and operates the Newdays convenience store chain
  • JR Bus Kanto / JR Bus Tohoku - intercity bus operators
  • Nippon Restaurant Enterprise - provides bentō box lunches on trains and in train stations
  • Tokyo Monorail - (70% ownership stake)[13]
  • East Japan Marketing & Communications

Sponsorship

JR East co-sponsors the JEF United Chiba J-League football club , which was formed by a merger between the JR East and Furukawa Electric company teams.

Environmental issues

JR East aims to reduce its carbon emissions by half, as measured over the period 1990–2030. This would be achieved by increasing the efficiency of trains and company-owned thermal power stations and by developing hybrid trains.[14]

Union issues

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has stated that JR East's official union is a front for a revolutionary political organization called the Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction). An investigation of this is ongoing.[15]

East Japan Railway Culture Foundation

The East Japan Railway Culture Foundation is a non-profit organization established by JR East for the purpose of developing a "richer railway culture".[16] The Railway Museum in Saitama is operated by the foundation.

Bids outside Japan

JR East holds a 15% shareholding in West Midlands Trains with Abellio and Mitsui that commenced operating the West Midlands franchise in England in December 2017.[17][18] The same consortium has also been listed to bid for the South Eastern franchise.[19][20]

References
  1. East Japan Railway Company. "JR East 2013 Annual Business Report (Japanese)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  2. East Japan Railway Company. "JR East Corporate Data". Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  3. East Japan Railway Company. "Financial Highlights - East Japan Railway Company and Subsidiaries" (PDF). Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  4. East Japan Railway Company. "Organization". Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  5. East Japan Railway Company. グループ会社一覧 (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  6. East Japan Railway Company. 会社要覧2008 (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  7. East Japan Railway Company. "Consolidated Results of Fiscal 2011 (Year Ended 31 March 2011)" (PDF). Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  8. East Japan Railway Company. "JR East 2012 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  9. 東日本旅客鉄道株式会社, Higashi-Nihon Ryokaku Tetsudō kabushiki gaisha
  10. East Japan Railway Company. "JR-EAST - East Japan Railway Company". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  11. Michael Lambe. "The Sunrise Seto & Sunrise Izumo – Overnight Sleeper Trains from Osaka to Tokyo". Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  12. "各駅の乗車人員 2020年度 ベスト100：Jr東日本".
  13. HighBeam
  14. 'JR East Efforts to Prevent Global Warming' in Japan Railway & Transport Review No. 51 (pp. 22–27), Retrieved 2010-12-15
  15. Government of Japan. 第174回国会 430 革マル派によるＪＲ総連及びＪＲ東労組への浸透に関する質問主意書
  16. East Japan Railway Culture Foundation. "FOR A RICHER RAILWAY CULTURE". Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
  17. More seats for rail passengers as nearly £1 billion is invested in Midlands services Department for Transport 10 August 2017
  18. West Midlands Trains announced as winning bidder for West Midlands franchise Abellio 10 August 2017
  19. West Coast Partnership and South Eastern rail franchise bidders Department for Transport 22 June 2017
  20. South Eastern franchise bidders announced Railway Gazette International 22 June 2017
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