National May 14, 2020
No family members of the victims participated in the annual memorial service for the first time.
National Apr 14, 2020
Seat reservations for JR trains in Golden Week holiday at record low
Seat reservations for shinkansen and limited express services for the upcoming Golden Week holidays have plunged 90 percent to a record low in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data by six major railway companies showed Tuesday. Total seat reservations as of Monday at East ...
National Feb 10, 2020
Japan Railways glitch halts credit card ticket purchases nationwide
Railway firms including East Japan Railway Co. and West Japan Railway Co. experienced a technical glitch with their ticketing system Monday morning for nearly five hours that prevented credit card purchases, their ticketing system management company said. Cash purchases and Central Japan Railway Co.'s "Smart ...
National Jan 26, 2020
AI to assist railway companies combat problems with snow accumulation
Japanese railway companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help tackle potential problems for their shinkansen bullet trains caused by snow accumulation. West Japan Railway Co. is developing an AI system to gauge the amount of snow that collects on Hokuriku Shinkansen trains that travel ...
Business / Corporate Jan 10, 2020
Full services set to resume on Hokuriku Shinkansen route from March 14
East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, said Thursday that the typhoon-hit Hokuriku bullet train line will resume full services on March 14. Services on the line, which connects Tokyo and Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, via Nagano and other prefectures have been reduced since Typhoon Hagibis ...
Business / Corporate Dec 23, 2019
Kansai railways branch out into new businesses to head off depopulation
As part of efforts to raise earnings before population decline strikes their service areas, railways in the Kansai region are trying to expand into other businesses. West Japan Railway Co. (JR West), for example, is marketing fish raised in land-based aquaculture facilities. It began cultivating ...
National Nov 17, 2019
JR West to bar public from viewing train cars recovered from deadly 2005 Amagasaki crash
West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) said it plans to preserve all seven cars involved in a train derailment in Hyogo Prefecture that killed 106 people in 2005 at an employee training center in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, without opening them to the public. JR West ...
Business / Corporate Nov 6, 2019
JR East and West decide to scrap flooded shinkansen for ¥15 billion loss
Ten Hokuriku bullet trains with 12 cars each will be scrapped because of severe damage from flooding during Typhoon Hagibis last month. Of the 10 trains, eight were owned by East Japan Railway Co. and the other two by West Japan Railway Co. At a news ...
National Apr 25, 2019
Families and survivors mark anniversary of 2005 Amagasaki derailment that killed 107
Some 500 survivors and family members of victims of a 2005 train derailment that killed 107 people gathered Thursday to mark the 14th anniversary of the crash at a ceremony, which was held for the first time at a newly built memorial facility. West Japan ...
National Jun 15, 2018
Minister calls for probe into fatal Kyushu shinkansen incident
The government has instructed West Japan Railway Co. to investigate why a driver of one of its bullet trains that hit and killed a man who had entered the tracks did not report hearing an abnormal sound at the time, Transport and Tourism Minister ...
National Feb 28, 2018
by Reiji Yoshida
Kawasaki Heavy Industries excessively ground down a steel component, likely causing the 16-cm crack discovered in December on the undercarriage of a shinkansen, JR West says
National Jan 21, 2018
Sanyo Shinkansen Line halted in Okayama by boy walking on tracks
The Sanyo Shinkansen Line was brought to a halt near Okayama Station over the weekend after a boy was found walking along the tracks, West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) said. JR West said a station worker noticed that someone had entered the tracks at ...