JR Firms, Local Govts to Continue Talks on Loss-Making Lines

Tokyo, Jan. 3 (Jiji Press)--Japan Railways Group companies are set to continue talks on the fate of loss-making local lines with regional communities concerned.

While the number of users of those unprofitable local lines is unlikely to recover amid falling populations in surrounding areas, people living around the lines want the railroad services to be maintained.

Of the six passenger service firms of the JR Group, Hokkaido Railway Co., or JR Hokkaido, East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, West Japan Railway Co., or JR West, and Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, have said that they are in negotiations with relevant local communities on a total of 21 railroad sections.

Among them, the course of discussions on JR West's Geibi Line could be a touchstone as a certain direction is expected to be shown within fiscal 2026, which starts in April, through the mediation of the central government.

On the most unprofitable part of the section between Bingo-Shobara and Bitchu-Kojiro stations on the line linking Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures, the average daily number of passengers per kilometer totals only 19, and it costs 9,945 yen to earn 100 yen.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]