Japanese National Railways

Japanese National Railways
Company information
Type	Statutory corporation
Industry	Transportation
Products	Rail transport
Headquarters	Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Areas served	Japan
History
Founded	1 June 1949
Founder(s)	Government of Japan
Defunct	31 March 1987
Fate	Broken up, gradually privatized
Predecessor(s)	Japanese Government Railways
Successor(s)	Japan Railways Group

The Japanese National Railways (Japanese: 日本国有鉄道 Nihon Kokuyū Tetsudō), officially abbreviated as JNR (Japanese: 国鉄 Kokutetsu), was the business entity operating Japan's national rail network from 1949 to 1987.

History

Japan's national railway system was originally operated by what was then a network of numerous railway lines operated by seventeen different companies that were nationalized in 1906 and put under control of the Japanese government, creating what was known as the Japanese Government Railways in 1920; the Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Transportation and Communications would later take over the network. Referred to in English as the JGR, the JGR further expanded in the following years with the acquisition of numerous other private railway companies. Many JGR lines were dismantled during World War II to supply steel for the war effort.

Following World War II, the Japanese government, under a directive from the U.S. General HQ in Tokyo overseen by General Douglas MacArthur, was told to reorganize the JGR, which was directly operated by the Ministry of Transport, into a statutory corporation; this corporation would come to be known as the Japanese National Railways, or JNR for short. While the JNR was founded by the Japanese government, it was not state run, its accounting being independent from the national budget. Following their reorganization, electrification of many major lines began to progress, such as the Tōkaidō Main Line in 1956, the San'yō Main Line in 1964 and the Tōhoku Main Line in 1968.

JNR enacted what was known as the Power Modernization Plan in the 1950s in an attempt to eliminate steam locomotives from general usage on the JNR starting from 1960, with all withdrawn within 15 years; these locomotives would be replaced with diesel and electric locomotives. Numerous other services were converted from locomotive-hauled to being operated by electric multiple units; the appearance of what was known as the New Performance Trains, modern domestically-produced electric multiple units, revolutionized the Japanese railway industry. Rural lines would either be electrified or use diesel multiple units.

Japan's high-speed railway system, the Shinkansen, was opened on 1 October 1964; many additional limited express trains would also begin to cross Japan, marking Japan's golden age of railways. Increased demand for rail transport due to the expanding economy meant that JNR's systems would be close to capacity, especially in Greater Tokyo, and as a result, the JNR enacted the Five Directions of Commuting Campaign to redevelop five major lines in the area (the Tōkaidō Main Line, Chūō Main Line, Tōhoku Main Line, Jōban Line and Sōbu Main Line) to quadruple track. This work was completed by 1981, improving passenger flow significantly.

Despite these successes, JNR was also suffering from a number of financial issues, with the construction of the Shinkansen and ambitious plans for expansion which were ultimately canceled putting a significant strain on the JNR's finances. Rural lines without sufficient passenger throughput began pressuring JNR management, pulling it further into debt. Starting from 1983, JNR began to select a series of 83 rural lines, known as the specified local lines, under the 1980 Reconstruction Act; all of these lines would either close and be substituted with bus services or be sold to other private operators from 1983 to 1990.

By 1987, JNR was over ¥27 trillion in debt and confrontations between unions and management became serious. By an act of the Diet of Japan, the JNR was privatized and split into seven constituent companies on 1 April 1987, becoming the Japan Railways Group of companies. Any long-term liabilities owned by the JNR would be transferred to the Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation and these assets distributed to the JNR's successor companies; the JNRSC would disband on 22 October 1998, with the liabilities and assets of the JNRSC transferred to the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency.

Presidents

Name	Term start	Term end	Notes
Sadanori Shimoyama	1 June 1949	6 July 1949	Died in office
Yukio Kagayama	24 September 1949	24 August 1951	Resigned due to Sakuragichō train fire
Sōnosuke Nagasaki	25 August 1951	19 May 1955	Resigned due to Shiun Maru disaster
Shinji Sogō	20 May 1955	19 May 1960	Resigned to take responsibility for Shinkansen costs being understated
Reisuke Ishida	20 May 1960	26 May 1969	Retired due to old age
Satoshi Isozaki	27 May 1969	21 September 1973	Resigned due to failure of productivity improvement movement with questionable legality
Matsutarō Fujii	22 September 1973	5 March 1976	Resigned due to failure of strike
Fumio Takagi	6 March 1976	1 December 1983	Resigned due to government pressure regarding JNR's Reconstruction Act
Iwao Nisugi	2 December 1983	24 June 1985	Resigned due to pressure regarding his plans for restructuring JNR; was last living ex-president of the JNR
Takaya Sugiura	25 June 1985	31 March 1987	Left office with JNR's privatization and division, became president of Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation after JNR's division

Trivia

• JNR's image song is titled the Railway Spirit Song, released in 1934 (when the JNR was still the JGR) and performed and arranged by Saburo Tanooka and the "Railroad Choir".