The Hokkaido Railway Company (Japanese: 北海道旅客鉄道株式会社 Hokkaidō Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha), officially abbreviated as JR Hokkaido (Japanese: JR北海道 JR Hokkaidō), is the main subsidiary of the Japan Railways Group based on the island of Hokkaido.
History[]
- Main article: Japan Railways Group
By the 1980s, the Japanese National Railways had become practically insolvent due to the decline of rail transport and fare increases failing to compensate for high labor costs. The Japanese National Railways was privatized and split into seven different companies on 1 April 1987, with the Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation later formed to distribute the funds among the companies. JR Hokkaido was formed from the previous JNR lines that ran in Hokkaido. Unlike some of JR's other constituent companies, JR Hokkaido remains under ownership of the state-affiliated Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency.
Yasuyuki Watanuki is JR Hokkaido's current president, having served in this role since 2022.
Network[]
JR Hokkaido operates 2,333.6 km (1,450 mi) of lines, including one Shinkansen lines and numerous commuter lines. Their headquarters are located in Sapporo's Chūō Ward.
Presidents[]
| Name | Term start | Term end |
|---|---|---|
| Yoshihiro Ōmori | 1987 | 1996 |
| Shinichi Sakamoto | 1996 | 2003 |
| Akio Koike | 2003 | 2007 |
| Naotoshi Nakajima | 2007 | 2011 |
| Akio Koike (second term) | 2011 | 2013 |
| Makoto Nojima | 2013 | 2014 |
| Osamu Shimada | 2014 | 2022 |
| Yasuyuki Watanuki | 2022 | Active |
Trivia[]
- JR Hokkaido's image song is titled Kita no Daichi (lit. "Northern Land"), released in 1988 and performed by Dark Ducks. The song was released on one of Dark Ducks's albums.
| JR Hokkaido rolling stock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active | AC EMUs | Shinkansen: H5 Commuter: 721 • 731 • 733 • 735 • 737 Limited Express: 785 • 789 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| DMUs | Commuter: H100 • KiHa 40 • KiHa 54 • KiHa 141 • KiHa 150 • KiHa 201 Limited Express: KiHa 261 • KiHa 281 • KiHa 283 Non-revenue: KiYa 291 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Withdrawn | AC EMUs | Commuter: 711 Limited Express: 781 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dual-current EMUs | Limited Express: 485 • 583 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| DMUs | Commuter: KiHa 22 • KiHa 45 • KiHa 130 Express: KiHa 56 Limited Express: KiHa 80 • KiHa 183 series • (KiHa 183-5000 • KiHa 183-5100 • KiHa 183-5200) Non-revenue: KiHa 160 • KiHa 285 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Future | Fuel cell MUs | Commuter: Unclassified | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| JR rolling stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||