The JRs
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| Author: Patrick Crozier |
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In 1987, Japan National Railway was privatised.
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What the state did
The state:
- split up JNR into:
- six passenger companies, three on the main island, Honshu, and one each on the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido
- a freight company, JR Freight
- set up the Management Stabilisation Fund, which took (and still takes) from the profitable Honshu JRs and gives to the loss-making island JRs
- put all the debt (it's a phenomenal sum - over £100 billion (no that is not a typo)) into a fund separate from the railways. Not quite sure how it is supposed to be paid off
- sold back the Shinkansen lines over the course of a few years
- sold off the shares in the JRs over the course of a few years. I am pretty sure that the Japanese government no longer has any interest in the JRs
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The outturn
The privatised railways:
- invested massively in new rolling stock
- massively increased the number of Shinkansen services
- increased their profitability
JR Central:
- increased speed and frequency and introduced new rolling stock on their conventional lines
- built a brand new station (plus skyscraper) at Nagoya
JR East:
- is investing in new technology that will make disasters like the one at Amagasaki impossible
