The | 7 | Minute | Miracle

The 7 Minute Miracle Of Japanese Train System
Rail transport in Japan is a major means of passenger transport, especially for mass and high-speed travel between major cities and for commuter transport in metropolitan areas.
Rail transport services in Japan are provided by more than 100 private companies, including
Six Japan Railways Group (JR) regional companies (state owned until 1987) which provide passenger services to most parts of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu;
The nationwide JR freight company; and
16 major regional companies which provide railway services as part of their corporate operations. There are also dozens of smaller local private railways.
Many of the private rail companies rank among the top corporations in the country. Railways were built by private corporations developing integrated communities along the railway lines, allowing them to achieve profitability by diversifying into real estate, retail, and numerous other businesses.[1] Regional governments, and companies funded jointly by regional governments and private companies, also provide rail service.
There are 27,268 km of rail crisscrossing the country. JR (a group of companies formed after privatization of JNR) controlled 20,135 km of these lines as of March 31, 1996, with the remaining 7,133 km in the hands of private enterprise local railway companies. Japan's railways carried 22.24 billion passengers (395.9 billion passenger-kilometres) in fiscal 2006.[2][better source needed] In comparison, Germany has over 40,000 km of railways, but carries only 2.2 billion passengers per year[citation needed].[3] Because of the massive use of its railway system, Japan is home to 46 of the world's 50 busiest stations.[4]
Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo and Yokohama have subway systems. However, unlike Europe, the vast majority of passenger traffic is on suburban commuter trains that criss-cross metropolitan areas. In addition, many cities have streetcar and monorail networks.
Japan pioneered the high-speed shinkansen or "bullet train", which now links Japan's largest cities at speeds of up to 320 km/h (200 mph). However, other trains running on the conventional line or "zairaisen" remain relatively slow, operating at fastest 160 km/h and mostly under 130 km/h.
Japan's railways carried 51.9 million tons (23.2 billion tonne-kilometres) of goods in fiscal 2006.[2] The share of railways in the national logistics is as small as 0.84% (2005).
Railways are the most important means of passenger transportation in Japan, maintaining this status since the late nineteenth century. Government policy promoted railways as an efficient transportation system for a country that lacks fossil fuels and is nearly completely dependent on imports.
Rural land near large cities was acquired cheaply by private railway companies from the late nineteenth century, which then built lines that became the backbone of urban transport between the suburbs and cities formed around the railway lines radiating out from metropolitan areas, similar to suburban growth around railways in other nations.
Despite this efficiency, growing affluence and associated car ownership led to road transportation usage increasing to the detriment of rail from the 1960s. The relative share of railways in total passenger kilometers fell from 66.7 percent in 1965 to 42 percent in 1978, and 29.8 percent in 1990, although this still accounted for the largest percentage of the OECD member countries.
The figure is 43.5% (as of 2001) in the largest metropolitan areas in Japan: Tokyo (including Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, and Kanagawa Prefectures), Osaka (including Kyoto, Osaka, and Hyōgo Prefectures), and Nagoya. Private automobiles in Greater Tokyo account for less than 20% of daily trips as car ownership is restricted to those with a dedicated parking space.
1872 - Opening of Japan's first railway between Shimbashi (Tokyo) and Yokohama
1881 - Foundation of Nippon Railway, Japan's first private railway company
1882 - Opening of Horonai Railway, first railway in Hokkaido
1888 - Opening of Iyo Railway, first railway in Shikoku
1889 - Opening of Kyushu Railway, first railway in Kyushu
1889 - Completion of the Tōkaidō Main Line
1893 - Class 860 steam locomotive, first locomotive built in Japan
1895 - Opening of Japan's first streetcar in Kyoto
1895 - Japan's acquisition of railway in Taiwan
1899 - Opening of Keijin Railway, first railway in Korea
1906 - Opening of first railway in Karafuto
1906 - Foundation of South Manchuria Railway
1906-1907 - Nationalization of 17 private railways
1914 - Opening of Tokyo Station
1925 - Inauguration of the Yamanote Line
1927 - Opening of Tokyo subway, the first subway in the East
1942 - Opening of Kanmon Tunnel connecting Honshu and Kyushu
1945 - End of World War II; railways were severely damaged
1949 - Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was reorganized to become a state-owned public corporation named the Japanese National Railways (JNR)