REVIEW OF OPERATIONS Transportation—Shinkansen Network Competition with Airlines Time Number ■ Time Number RequiredFare per Day Tokyo-Aomori RequiredFare per Day Akita Hybrid Shinkansen 3:49 ¥16,810 15 2.9 million passengers Tohoku Shinkansen Air (Hachinohe) 2:56 ¥15,350 15 Aircraft (Akita Airport) 2:38 ¥23,210 7 per year 32% ■ Tokyo-Akita JR Aircraft (Misawa Airport) 3:18 ¥28,040 3 68% Time Number 2.3 million passengers per year RequiredFare per Day Tohoku Shinkansen + Air Tohoku Honsen (Aomori) 3:54 ¥16,890 15 43% JR Aircraft (Aomori Airport) 3:08 ¥27,880 6 57% Shin-Aomori Time Number Misawa Airport RequiredFare per Day Joetsu Shinkansen + Aomori Airport Hachinohe Uetsu Honsen 3:55 ¥13,880 7 (631.9km) Odate-Noshiro Aircraft (Shonai Airport) 2:38 ¥19,340 4 Airport Akita (662.6km) ■ Tokyo-Sakata Morioka Akita 0.7 million passengers per year Airport Hanamaki Airport ■ Tokyo-Yamagata Air JR Sakata ■ Tokyo-Niigata 49% 51% 2.4 million passengers per year Shonai Shinjo Air 4.6 million passengers per year Airport (421.4km) Time Number 2% RequiredFare per Day Yamagata Yamagata Hybrid Niigata Airport JR 2:31 ¥11,030 16 (333.9km) Yamagata Shinkansen JR Sendai 98% Niigata Aircraft (Yamagata Airport) 2:48 ¥17,320 1 100% Airport Sendai Airport Fukushima ■ Tokyo-Sendai Joetsu 8.3 million passengers per year Echigoyuzawa Nagano (222.4km) Fukushima Airport Karuizawa Matsumoto Takasaki JR Matsumoto Airport Utsunomiya 100% Mito Omiya Kofu Tokyo Narita Airport (0km) Haneda Overview Airport For JR East, its Shinkansen services rank alongside its transporta- Note: This information is from the June 2006 JR East timetable. “Time Required” is tion services in the Tokyo metropolitan area as a mainstay busi- based on the time it takes for a regular train operating at maximum speed to reach ness. JR East operates a five-route Shinkansen network that links the given destination. Aircraft times include the 53 minutes it takes to travel from Tokyo with the regions of Tohoku, Joetsu, Nagano, Yamagata, Tokyo Station to Haneda Airport using JR lines and the Tokyo Monorail as well as the time it takes upon arrival for airport buses to reach their destinations. JR fares are for and Akita. Specially designed hybrid Shinkansen trains—capable one-way, regular fares, including surcharges for reserved seating. Airfares are also of running on the tracks of conventional lines as well as for one-way, regular fares and are for the same month as the JR fares. Shinkansen lines—serve the Yamagata and Akita regions. PASSENGER KILOMETERS AND In Japan, trains are generally considered superior to airplanes REVENUES FROM PASSENGER TICKETS (Millions, Millions of Yen) for medium-to-long-distance trips of up to 750km in length. The 0 4,0008,000 12,000 16,000 20,000 distance from Tokyo to the principal cities in JR East’s operating FY ’02 area falls within this range, placing JR East in a superior competi- tive position vis-à-vis airlines. ’03 ’04 Topics ’05 December 2005 Service Schedule Revisions ’06 In December 2005, JR East implemented service schedule revi- sions primarily aimed at improving the Shinkansen network. 0 100,000200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 Passenger kilometers Revenues from passenger tickets Besides increasing the volume of services on the Yamagata and 18 Akita hybrid Shinkansen lines during peak peri- requirements, JR East introduced the Hayate all- ods, JR East reevaluated the Joetsu Shinkansen reserved-car service. timetable and made changes to increase the In its third year of operations, the Hayate convenience of travel toward Sakata and there- service continued to see impressive passenger by enhance capabilities for competing with air- volume, and it has enabled JR East to take an lines. JR East also increased transportation increasingly larger share of the market for travel efficiency by changing its previous policy of between Tokyo and the Aomori and Misawa assigning services to individual train platforms in areas away from airlines. JR East’s share of that Shinkansen trains Tokyo Station based on the common direction market has risen from about 40% before the of the services’ destinations. This more flexible launch of the Hayate service to approximately use of platforms made it possible to increase 70% in fiscal 2006. train frequency during peak periods to approxi- mately 13 trains per hour, or about one to two Outlook trains per hour more than previously feasible, FASTECH 360—The 360km/h Challenge and thereby augment passenger capacity at JR East has moved ahead with the development those times. of Shinkansen trains that offer the world’s high- In addition, the implementation of environmen- est levels of speed—it aims to achieve speeds of Hayate E2-1000 series railcar tal countermeasures in certain areas of the Joetsu up to 360km/h—as well as reliability, environ- Shinkansen Line has made it possible to run the mental compatibility, and comfort. line’s trains at their top speed of 240km/h. Of the two types of high-speed test railcar Moreover, JR East began using new control equip- prototypes JR East has been developing, the ment that uses information technology to increase Shinkansen railcar known as the FASTECH 360S passenger comfort on certain parts of the Tohoku was finished in June 2005 and the FASTECH Shinkansen Line, and this enabled the travel times 360Z hybrid entered operational trials from April of certain trains to be reduced. The new control 2006. Operational trials of both prototypes are equipment is scheduled to be introduced for all expected to be completed during fiscal 2008. Shinkansen lines by the end of fiscal 2009. FASTECH 360S Shinkansen Line Extensions Hayate Service in Its Third Year of Operations The Japan Railway Construction, Transport and In December 2002, the Tohoku Shinkansen Line Technology Agency (JRTT) is constructing exten- was extended from Morioka to Hachinohe, sions to the Tohoku Shinkansen Line between reducing the time required to travel between Hachinohe and Shin-Aomori and to the Tokyo and Hachinohe on the quickest train by Hokuriku Shinkansen Line between Nagano and 37 minutes, to only 2 hours and 56 minutes. Kanazawa (Joetsu marks the limit of JR East’s Passengers on this line ride in JR East’s most service area). The Hachinohe–Shin-Aomori seg- advanced E2-1000 series railcars, which employ ment is scheduled to be completed at the end of full active suspension to enhance passenger fiscal 2011, and the Nagano–Kanazawa seg- comfort and low-noise pantographs to reduce ment is expected to be finished by the end of noise pollution. To cater to passengers’ seating fiscal 2015 (see page 50 for details). Suica Topics—Mobile Suica Introduced in January 2006, Mobile Suica—a more sophisticated version of the Suica card—integrates electronic money with mobile phones. By making use of mobile phones’ communications and display functions, Mobile Suica will be able to be “charged” (loaded with “stored fares” or electronic money) anywhere, at any time. In addition to enabling users to draw electronic money from their bank accounts, Mobile Suica will allow stored fares to be used for Internet shop- ping, the purchase of FREX Shinkansen commuter passes, and a growing number of other services, including enabling passengers to reserve Shinkansen seats and then board their trains without tickets. 19 REVIEW OF OPERATIONS Transportation—Tokyo Metropolitan Area Network Enhanced Service on Conventional Lines around the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Network Omiya Toride Mar. 2006: Reciprocal through Oct. 2004: Green Cars (first-class cars) on the operations with Tobu Railway Co., Ltd. Utsunomiya, Takasaki, and Shonan-Shinjuku lines Spring 2007 (est.): Placing of Akabane Green Cars on the Joban Line Ikebukuro Haijima FY2010 (est.): Tohoku Through Line Tachikawa Nishi-Kokubunji Ueno Shinjuku Tokyo Hachioji Hamamatsucho Shinkiba Oct. 2004: Increased frequency Shinagawa Chiba on the Shonan-Shinjuku Line Osaki Dec. 2002: Through operations Soga on the Saikyo and Rinkai lines FY2010 (est.): Opening of New Musashi-Kosugi Station Haneda Airport Terminal 2 Feb. 2002: Acquisition of the Tokyo Monorail Yokohama Reserved seating Through operation Overview The Tokyo metropolitan area train line network boasts a total Shonan-Shinjuku Line route length of about 1,100 kilometers, including numerous lines Tokyo Monorail that are within central Tokyo as well as those linking central Rinkai Line (TWR) Tokyo with nearby suburban cities. Most of the network is within Tohoku Through Line a 100-kilometer radius of Tokyo Station. JR East accounts for nearly half of the Tokyo area’s huge, highly profitable rail trans- portation market in terms of passenger kilometers and operating Concept illustration of the Tohoku Through Line revenues (see page 84 for details). PASSENGER KILOMETERS AND Topics REVENUES FROM PASSENGER TICKETS (Millions, Millions of Yen) Competition with Other Railway Companies 0 20,00040,000 60,000 80,000 In Tokyo, competition with subway networks and other railway sys- FY ’02 tems is intensifying. In response, JR East has worked to strengthen its network without undertaking large-scale capital investment proj- ’03 ects, by making the most of its existing infrastructure. ’04 Competing railway operating companies have implemented ’05 large-scale capital investments that have necessitated multiple ’06 rounds of fare increases, while JR East has not raised fares since its establishment in 1987, other than to reflect the consumption 0 250,000500,000 750,000 1,000,000 Passenger kilometers Revenues from passenger tickets tax introduction (1989) and revision (1997). As a result, JR East’s price competitiveness has risen. Since its establishment, JR East 20 has increased its capacity by an amount roughly three times the average capacity of its major Tokyo competitors additional lines in October 2004, JR East has con- through such measures as those to develop new tinued working to increase its revenues and routes that share existing line segments with address passengers’ seating needs by introducing other services, increase the number of trains, more of these cars.