30th anniversary of privatization of Japan National Railway

[Sascha]

Hey guys. On April 1st JR will have their 30th anniversary. Are there any special events planned? I'll be in Tokyo on the 1st.

[bill937ca]

There is a 30th anniversary video.   JR東日本 公式チャンネル video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxosSoN6O7A

Edited February 24, 2017 by bill937ca

[westfalen]

That's JR East who did pretty well out of the breakup, some of the others like Hokkaido or Shikoku might more fondly remember the old JNR.

[Sacto1985]

Of course JR East is doing well--their Tokyo-area commuter trains are still packed to the tilt on weekdays. Small wonder why JR East's own Niitsu assembly line built a LOT of E233 Series trainsets in the last 12 years and will soon start assembling the E235 Series, which will first replace the E231-500's on the Yamanote Line (and I personally expect more E235's further down the road for the Chūō-Sōbu Line and Musashino Line).

 

JR Central is doing well because of their ownership of the Tokaidō Shinkansen, the world's busiest high-speed rail line, which allows them to fund a lot of local train service (for example the mountainous Iida Line between Tateno and Toyohashi).

[bill937ca]

It's not all bad for JR Shikoku.  From the 20th anniversary article in The Railway Pictorial (April 2008, No. 802). A couple of maps list operating speeds for 1987 and 2007.

 

1987

 

130Km/h     0.0 Km 0%

120Km/h     0.0 Km 0%

110Km/h  194.7Km  22%

100km/h  686.0Km  78%

 

2007

 

130Km/h   288.5Km  31%

120Km/h   196.9Km  23%

110Km/h   263.6Km  31%

100Km/h   125.8Km  15%

Edited February 25, 2017 by bill937ca

[Sacto1985]

I believe a lot of the electrification improvements on JR Shikoku lines from Takamatsu to Matsuyama, along with the opening of the Great Seto Bridge, accounted for adding a lot of areas of 130 km/h running.

[westfalen]

I believe a lot of the electrification improvements on JR Shikoku lines from Takamatsu to Matsuyama, along with the opening of the Great Seto Bridge, accounted for adding a lot of areas of 130 km/h running.

 

Which were probably planned and authorised before the end of JNR.

 

Of course one good thing to come out of the formation of the JR companies was the JR Pass which last year allowed me to do ¥178,090 worth of travel in 21 days for a mere ¥57,000.