Japan Freight Railway Company

Japan Freight Railway Company
日本貨物鉄道株式会社

Type	Public KK
Predecessor(s)	Japan National Railways (JNR)
Founded	April 1, 1987 (privatization of JNR)
Headquarters	5-33-8, Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Services	freight services other related services
Owner(s)	Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (100%)
Employees	6,661 (as of April 1, 2010)
Website	jrfreight.co.jp/english/index.html

Modern JR Freight Class EH200 articulated electric locomotive, July 2004

Umeda Freight Terminal in Osaka, June 2011

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

The Japan Railways Group was founded on April 1, 1987, when Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatized, and then divided into six regional companies and Japan Freight Railway Company. Although the passenger operation of JNR was split into six companies, fares and regulations are standard for all companies and every region of Japan except Okinawa is covered by the railway network spanning approximately 19,800 kilometres (12,300 mi).

Formerly part of JNR, the freight operation was not divided and became a single separate company when JNR was privatized and split. Although it has only about fifty kilometers of track of its own, it also operates on track owned by the JR passenger railways and other companies. The company uses the initials JRF as an abbreviated name for identification.

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
	Chihaya Yard - Fukuoka Freight Terminal	Fukuoka	2.2
Kansai Main Line	Yokkaichi Station - Shiohama Station	Mie	3.3
	Hirano Station - Kudara Freight Terminal	Osaka	1.4
Nippō Main Line	Obase Nishikōdaimae 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
	Kami-Nuttari Junction - Higashi-Niigatakō Freight Terminal	Niigata	3.8
Shinminato Line	Nōmachi Station - Takaoka Freight Terminal	Toyama	1.9
Tōhoku Main Line	Tabata Freight Terminal - Kita-Ōji Freight Terminal	Tokyo	4.0
Tōkaidō Main Line	Sannō Junction - Nagoya-Minato Freight Terminal	Aichi	6.2
	Suita Junction - Osaka Freight Terminal	Osaka	8.7
Uetsu Main Line	Sakata Station - Sakatakō Freight Terminal	Yamagata	2.7

Rolling stock

JR Freight owns a variety of rolling stock, including

• Diesel locomotives
  • JNR design: DD51, DE10, DE11
  • JR design: DF200
• DC electric locomotives
  • JNR design: EF64, EF65, EF66, EF67
  • JR design: EF200, EF210, EH200
• AC electric locomotives
  • JNR design: ED75, ED76, ED79
• AC/DC electric locomotives
  • JNR design: EF81
  • JR design: EF510, EH500
• Freight EMUs
• Covered and uncovered cars with capacities up to 36 tons
• Carriers for automobiles, trucks and containers
• Large cars with capacities up to 80 tons
• Coal and hopper cars

Future developments

The company announced on 10 September 2008 plans to develop a hybrid diesel-battery locomotive to replace the aging DE10 locomotives on shunting work. The prototype 60-tonne Bo-Bo locomotive will be delivered in late fiscal 2009 and will offer a maximum power output of 500 kW.

See also

• Japan Railways locomotive numbering and classification

External links

• http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/ (Japanese)
• http://www.jrfreight.co.jp/english/ (English)