Masatake Matsuda, president of East Japan Railway Co., recalls how his company, along with Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) and West Japan Railway Co., rejected the government's plan in December to have the three JR group firms shoulder a greater financial burden for building new bullet train lines.
Matsuda stressed in an interview that the state can no longer force JR group firms to do things for the government as a result of the 1987 privatization of the former Japanese National Railways.
This month, JR group firms celebrated their 10th anniversary since the state-run JNR, which had accumulated long-term debts of 37.1 trillion yen, was dissolved into one freight and six passenger carriers in April 1987. "The main objective of the JNR privatization program was to reduce political influence over the management of the railway business," Matsuda said. "The fact that we became a private company enabled us to reject things that do not suit private corporations."