Жапон Ұлттық Темір Жолдарының жекешелендірілуі және JR тобының құрылуы

Group of companies that replaced Japanese National Railways

The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as the JR Group (JRグループ) or simply JR, is a group of railway companies in Japan that underwent division and privatization (see also the article about the reform on the Japanese Wikipedia) of the government owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. It consists of six passenger railway companies, one freight railway company, and two non service companies. Most of the liability of the JNR was assumed by the JNR Settlement Corporation. The JR Group operates a large proportion of intercity rail service (including the Shinkansen high speed rail lines) and commuter rail service. JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku, and JR Freight (JRF) are governed by the , also known as the JR Companies Act, and are under the control of the public Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT), while JR East, JR Central, JR West, and JR Kyushu are completely floated in the stock market; in addition, JR East, JR Central and JR West are constituents of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 indices. Because the railways used to be owned by the government, Japanese people generally make a distinction between JR railways (including former JR lines that are now third sector) and other private railways, and JR railways are almost always denoted differently from other private railways when shown on maps.

By the 1970s, passenger and freight business had declined, and fare increases had failed to keep up with higher labor costs. The JR Group companies were formed out of the privatization of the Japanese National Railways in 1987.

In 1987, the government of Japan took steps to divide and privatize JNR. While division of operations began in April of that year, privatization was not immediate: initially, the government retained ownership of the companies. Privatization of some of the companies began in the early 1990s. By October 2016, all of the shares of JR East, JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu had been offered to the market and they are now publicly traded. On the other hand, all of the shares of JR Hokkaido, JR Shikoku and JR Freight are still owned by Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, an independent administrative institution of the state. All the JR Group companies operating in the Honshū region are constituents of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 indexes.

JR maintains a nationwide railway network as well as common ticketing rules that it inherited from JNR. Passengers may travel across several JR companies without changing trains and without purchasing separate tickets. However, trains running across the boundaries of JR companies have been reduced. JR maintains the same ticketing rules based on the JNR rules and has an integrated reservation system known as MARS (jointly developed with Hitachi). Some types of tickets (passes), such as Japan Rail Pass and Seishun 18 Ticket, are issued as "valid for all JR lines" and accepted by all passenger JR companies.

Various unions represent workers at the different JR Group companies, such as the National Railway Workers' Union, All Japan Construction, Transport and General Workers' Union, Doro Chiba, and the Japan Confederation of Railway Workers' Unions.