Japan Freight Railway Company

Japanese railway company

Japan Freight Railway Company

Native name	日本貨物鉄道株式会社
Romanized name	Nippon Kamotsu Tetsudō kabushiki gaisha
Company type	State-owned KK
Predecessor	Japanese National Railways (JNR)
Founded	April 1, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-04-01) (privatization of JNR)
Headquarters	5-33-8, Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo , Japan
Services	freight services other related services
Owner	Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (100%)
Number of employees	5,472 (as of April 1, 2021^[update])^[1]
Website	www.jrfreight.co.jp/en

Japan Freight Railway Company (日本貨物鉄道株式会社, Nippon Kamotsu Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha), or JR Freight (JR貨物, Jeiāru Kamotsu), is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station.^[1]

The Japan Railways Group was founded on 1 April 1987, when Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatized. Japanese National Railways was divided into six regional passenger rail companies and a single freight railway company, Japan Freight Railway Company.

The company has only about 50 kilometers (31 mi) of track of its own, and therefore operates on track owned by the six JR passenger railways as well as other companies which provide rail transport in Japan.

Economics

In 2017, only about 5% of all freight in Japan is carried by rail but nearly all of that, 99%, is carried by JR Freight.^[2] Trucks carry about 50% and ships about 44%.^[2] JR Freight has seen its share of the freight market gradually decrease since 1993.^{[citation needed]} In the 2010s JR Freight has been carrying more freight because of the decrease in the number of available truck drivers due to age as well as government policy to reduce carbon dioxide.^[2] JR Freight has run a deficit for many years.^[3]

Lines

While major part of the operation of JR Freight is on the tracks owned and maintained by other JR companies, JR Freight owns the railway lines (as Category-1 railway business) as follows:

Line	Endpoints	Locale (Prefecture)	Distance (km)
Hokuriku Main Line	Tsuruga Station - Tsuruga-Minato Freight Terminal	Fukui	2.7
Kagoshima Main Line	Mojikō Station - Sotohama Freight Terminal	Fukuoka	0.9
Kagoshima Main Line	Chihaya Yard - Fukuoka Freight Terminal	Fukuoka	2.2
Kansai Main Line	Yokkaichi Station - Shiohama Station	Mie	3.3
Kansai Main Line	Hirano Station - Kudara Freight Terminal	Osaka	1.4
Nippō Main Line	Obase-Nishikōdai-mae Station - Kandakō Freight Terminal	Fukuoka	4.6
Ōu Main Line	Tsuchizaki Station - Akitakō Freight Terminal	Akita	1.8
Senseki Line	Rikuzen-Yamashita Station - Ishinomakikō Freight Terminal	Miyagi	1.8
Shin'etsu Main Line	Kami-Nuttari Junction - Nuttari Freight Terminal	Niigata	1.8
Shin'etsu Main Line	Kami-Nuttari Junction - Higashi-Niigatakō Freight Terminal	Niigata	3.8
Shinminato Line	Nōmachi Station - Takaoka Freight Terminal	Toyama	1.9
Tohoku Main Line	Tabata Freight Terminal - Kita-Ōji Freight Terminal	Tokyo	4.0
Tōkaidō Main Line	Sannō Junction - Nagoya-Minato Freight Terminal	Aichi	6.2
Tōkaidō Main Line	Suita Freight Terminal - Osaka Freight Terminal	Osaka	8.7
Uetsu Main Line	Sakata Station - Sakatakō Freight Terminal	Yamagata	2.7

Rolling stock

As of 1 March 2017^[update], JR Freight owns and operates the following rolling stock,^[4] with most of the newer motive stock being exclusively built by Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions:

Diesel locomotives

JNR Class DE10 B-C diesel-hydraulic locomotives
JNR Class DE11 B-C diesel-hydraulic locomotives
JR Freight Class DB500 B diesel-hydraulic locomotive
JR Freight Class DD200 Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives
JR Freight Class DF200 Bo-Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives
JR Freight Class HD300 Bo-Bo, hybrid diesel-battery locomotives

A Class DE10-1500 diesel-hydraulic locomotive in December 2009
A Class DE11-2000 diesel-hydraulic locomotive in January 2011
A Class DD200 diesel-electric locomotive in April 2020
A Class DF200-100 diesel-electric locomotive in October 2011
A Class HD300 hybrid diesel-battery locomotive in May 2013

Electric locomotives

JNR Class EF64 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JNR Class EF65 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JNR Class EF66 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JNR Class EF67 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JNR Class ED76 Bo-2-Bo AC electric locomotives
JNR Class EF81 Bo-Bo-Bo AC/DC electric locomotives
JR Freight Class EF210 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JR Freight Class EH200 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JR Freight Class EF510 Bo-Bo-Bo AC/DC electric locomotives
JR Freight Class EH500 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo AC/DC electric locomotives
JR Freight Class EH800 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo AC electric locomotives

A Class EF64-1000 DC electric locomotive in July 2005
A Class EF65-2000 DC electric locomotive in February 2021
A Class EF66-100 DC electric locomotive in January 2006
A Class EF67-100 DC electric locomotive in August 2009
A Class ED76-1000 AC electric locomotive in March 2007
A Class EF81-450 AC electric locomotive in February 2008
A Class EF210-100 DC electric locomotive in June 2009
A Class EH200 DC electric locomotive in June 2007
A Class EF510 AC/DC electric locomotive in August 2009
A Class EH500 AC/DC electric locomotive in December 2020
A Class EH800 AC electric locomotive in July 2016

Electric multiple units

M250 series freight EMU

An M250 series freight EMU in June 2007

Former rolling stock

JNR Class ED62 Bo-1-Bo DC electric locomotives
JNR Class ED75 Bo-Bo AC electric locomotives
JNR Class ED79 Bo-Bo AC electric locomotives
JR Freight Class EF200 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
JNR Class DD51 B-2-B diesel-hydraulic locomotives

A Class ED62 electric locomotive in May 2007
A Class ED75-1000 electric locomotive in March 2007
A pair of Class ED79 electric locomotives in June 2013
A Class EF200 DC electric locomotive in August 1992
A Class DD51 diesel-hydraulic locomotive in August 2007

References

^ ^a ^b Japan Freight Railway Company. "Corporate Overview". Retrieved October 21, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Japan firms shifting to trains to move freight amid dearth of new truckers". The Japan Times Online. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^ WISETJINDAWAT, W.; et al. (2015). "Rare Mode Choice in Freight Transport: Modal Shift from Road to Rail". Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies. 11: 774–787. doi:10.11175/easts.11.774.
^ JR貨物機関車配置表 [JR Freight locomotive allocation list]. Tetsudo Daiya Joho Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 46, no. 400. Japan: Kotsu Shimbun. August 2017. p. 42.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to JR Freight.

Official website

Japan Railways Group

Predecessors: Ministry of Industry; Cabinet; Home Ministry; Ministry of Communications; Ministry of Railways; Ministry of Transport and Communications [ja]; Ministry of Transport; Japanese National Railways; Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation; JNR Settlement Corporation

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