Introduction

JR Shikoku was founded in April 1987 with the objective of establishing efficient management of railways in Shikoku and becoming a community-based organization. Although the company is the smallest operator in the group of six JR passenger companies, as well as striving towards full privatization (one of the goals of the Japanese National Railways (JNR) reforms), we have also worked at becoming a vital part of our local community, which is a key aim of our management philosophy. Since our company is deeply rooted in the Shikoku region, we have tried to improve our railway services as the foundation of our business, promote regional tourism and businesses in coordination with local groups, and become more efficient by cutting costs. Despite this hard work, we are still not at a stage where continuous and stable revenue is assured, so we are only halfway to our goal of establishing a business basis for full privatization. However, we do feel that we have achieved a greater presence as a company in the last 20 years to become an integral part of Shikoku’s community.

JR Shikoku’s Business Environment

Right from the start of the JNR division and privatization, critics predicted that JR Shikoku would immediately face a very tough business environment. Surprisingly, the Japanese economic boom in the late 1980s coupled with the opening of the Seto Ohashi Line in April 1988 helped produce a large increase in transport volumes, which in combination with improvements in transport services and focussed efforts on efficient operations, produced greatly increased operating profits. Unfortunately, the collapse of the ‘bubble’ economy and ensuing long-term recession had a profound negative effect on our business made worse by fierce competition from trucking companies after the opening of the Honshu–Shikoku bridges, and rapid development of express bus services on the new Shikoku expressway network.
Additionally, Shikoku has Japan’s most rapidly aging population and falling birth rate, both of which seem likely to be irreversible future trends and raise serious concerns about the local economy losing its vitality. Such a downturn would have a great effect on JR Shikoku, because we are rooted in the local community.
Despite these difficulties, fares have only been raised once (January 1996) in the last 20 years although income and cost forecasts in 1987 suggested that fares would have to be increased annually for the first 5 years. Our ability to keep fares stable and competitive in the transport market is perhaps one of our most significant achievements.

Railway Business Trends

By establishing ourselves as a community-based company, we developed our railway business in tune with local characteristics and in cooperation with local governments and businesses. As such, we make a great contribution to the local community in both social and economic terms. At a November 1985 meeting of the Shikoku Regional Council of the Supervisory Committee for JNR Reconstruction, strong requests were made to strengthen the inadequate railway infrastructure but even today, the number of electrified and double-tracked lines in Shikoku is much lower than the national average. One reason explaining the long-term decline in our railway business is the fact that while our competitors have more or less completed development of their transport infrastructure, we have not yet built infrastructure able to fully compete with them.

Constructing safe operating systems
Safe operations have been our guiding principle from the first day. In terms of actual infrastructure, this means making continuing investment in equipment to assure safe and stable operations, regardless of total income in any particular fiscal year. We have also enhanced ‘softer’ structural and training-related measures, such as revising our Safety Code, to heighten safety awareness.

Timetabling for customers and boosting demand by investing in new trains
Our tracks in Shikoku are unique in Japan because they are almost all non-electrified; a small stretch was electrified just before privatization, but even most of the main tracks were single track and non-electrified and there were many sharp curves and steep grades. In this context, and in anticipation of future competition from expressways, our first goal was to shorten times between cities by running faster trains. As part of our drive to improve our infrastructure, we developed actively controlled tilting technology allowing Series 2000 limited express diesel railcars to run faster through curves, and invested in electrifying the Yosan Line.
The 26 March timetable revision was the 27th since our foundation and reflects the greatly increased number of daily services from 629 in 1987 to 1022 in 2006. The number of limited expresses has also been increased from 85 to 188, reaching 1 every hour on main lines.
Recently, we have been working hard towards our goal of being our customers’ preferred mode of transport by re-timetabling our limited express services to meet the needs of students and commuters.

Providing reassuring and comfortable space, and other services
JR Shikoku is helping provide customers with easy-to-use, barrier-free stations by installing elevators and escalators at elevated stations, wheelchair slopes, multi-purpose toilets, and platform tactile blocks for guiding people with impaired vision. Some of these improvements have been made possible by local-government grants.
From FY2005, we have been renovating stations to make them cleaner, brighter, more user-friendly and easier to navigate, and we were the first JR operator to introduce station numbering. As a customer safety measure, in July 2006, we installed Automated External Defibrillators (AED) at all our stations.
In terms of structural and training-related measures, since October 2004, some staff have been acquiring ‘care-fitter’ qualifications—a non-official qualification that trains people to offer professional assistance to elderly or disabled people by helping them to walk or by operating their wheelchairs. In our business, this means helping customers move around stations and get on or off trains. We are expanding the number of these qualified staff at more of our stations.

Travel Business Expansion

Affiliated Businesses

Bus Business

Overview of Group Companies

Community Activities

Future Issues

Conclusion

JR Shikoku Chronology