Japanese private railways
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| Author: Patrick Crozier |
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Since the first railways came to Japan, Japan has always had some private railways. Nowadays, they are mainly urban, commuter lines.
The term "private" railway is still used to refer exclusively to those railways that were never nationalised. By convention the JRs do not count as "private" railways.
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What the state did
I know little of how the state interfered in Japan's private railways other than fare regulation. I am even unsure as to whether it enabled compulsory purchase of the routes or not.
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The Outturn
On the upside, private railways:
- run fast, frequent, clean and punctual trains
- remained profitable while the state railways made huge losses. At one point the richest man in the world was a private railway operator
- had less overcrowding than the state railway. They still have less overcrowding than the state railway's successors
- developed property adjacent to their stations. This inlcuded:
- well-regarded housing estates such as Tama New Town
- resorts
- hotels
- but not, for some reason commercial buildings
- provided a model when JNR started to lose money
On the downside:
- the trains and structures, by western standards, are pretty ugly. Mind you, that is just as true of the former state owned sector
