Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad Co., based in Kagawa Prefecture, filed for court protection from creditors Friday with consolidated liabilities of approximately 60 billion yen.
The company is the first purely private railway to seek legal help to rehabilitate, according to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.
The company went to the Takamatsu District Court under fast-track legislation for corporate rehabilitation after giving up on its own attempts to deal with its debt.
It had asked its banks to waive debts of 15.1 billion yen after compiling a reconstruction plan in late October, but the banks refused.
The company, established in 1943, operates three railway lines in Kagawa Prefecture. In 1997, the company opened the Kotoden Sogo department store, but the store went bankrupt in January.
The company incurred unconsolidated net losses of 11.4 billion yen on revenues of 4.9 billion yen in fiscal 2000, which ended March 31.