The West Japan Railway Company (Japanese: 西日本旅客鉄道株式会社 Nishi-Nihon Ryokaku Tetsudō Kabushiki Kaisha), officially abbreviated as JR West (Japanese: JR西日本 JR Nishi-Nihon), is the main subsidiary of the Japan Railways Group based in western Japan.
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 West was formed from the previous JNR lines that ran around the Kansai, Chūgoku and Hokuriku regions, with its Japanese name taken from the general area of Japan where its services operate. The company became fully publicly-owned in 2004.
Kazuaki Hasegawa is JR West's current president, having served in this role since 2019.
Network[]
JR West owns 4,903.1 km (3,046.6 mi) of rail lines, including two Shinkansen lines and numerous commuter lines. Its headquarters are located in Osaka.
Presidents[]
Name | Term start | Term end |
---|---|---|
Tatsuo Tsunoda | 1987 | 1992 |
Masataka Ide | 1992 | 1997 |
Shōjirō Nanya | 1997 | 2003 |
Takeshi Kakiuchi | 2003 | 2006 |
Masao Yamazaki | 2006 | 2009 |
Takayuki Sasaki | 2009 | 2012 |
Seiji Manabe | 2012 | 2016 |
Tatsuo Kijima | 2016 | 2019 |
Kazuaki Hasegawa | 2019 | Active |
Chairmen[]
The role of Chairman has been vacant since 2021.
Name | Term start | Term end |
---|---|---|
Tsutomu Murai | 1987 | 1992 |
Tatsuo Tsunoda | 1992 | 1997 |
Masataka Ide | 1997 | 2003 |
Shōjirō Nanya | 2003 | 2006 |
Noritaka Kurauchi | 2006 | 2012 |
Takayuki Sasaki | 2012 | 2016 |
Seiji Manabe | 2016 | 2021 |
Trivia[]
- JR West's image song is titled Towards Tomorrow. The song was composed by Takao Horiuchi.
- Various employees of JR West and its subsidiary companies make up an internal brass band.
JR West rolling stock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Active | AC EMUs | Shinkansen: 500 • 700 • N700 • N700S • W7 Non-revenue Shinkansen: 923 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
DC EMUs | Commuter: 103 • 105 • 113 • 115 • 117 • 123 • 125 • 201 • 205 • 207 • 213 • 221 • 223 • 225 • 227 • 321 • 323 Limited Express: 271 • 273 • 281 • 283 • 285 • 287 • 289 • 381 Non-revenue: 145 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Dual-current EMUs | Commuter: 521 Limited Express: 681 • 683 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
DMUs | Commuter: KiHa 40 • KiHa 120 • KiHa 121/126 • KiHa 122/127 Limited Express: KiHa 187 • KiHa 189 Non-revenue: KiYa 141 • KiYa 143 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Hybrid DEMUs | Charter: 87 Non-revenue: DEC700 • DEC741 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Withdrawn | AC EMUs | Shinkansen: 0 • 100 • 300 Non-revenue Shinkansen: 922 • 500-900 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
DC EMUs | Commuter: 42 • 83 • 84 • 101 • 211 Limited Express: 165 • 167 • 183 Non-revenue: 90 • 91 • 213/223-9000 • 441 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Dual-current EMUs | Commuter: 413 • 415 • 419 • 455 • 457 • 471 • 475 Limited Express: 485 • 489 • 583 Non-revenue: 443 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
DMUs | Commuter: KiHa 33 • KiHa 35 • KiHa 37 • KiHa 45 • KiHa 52 Express: KiHa 58 • KiHa 65 Limited Express: KiHa 181 Non-revenue: KiYa 191 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Hybrid BEMUs | Commuter: DGBC2 |
JR rolling stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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