Japan Freight Railway Company

Japan Freight Railway Company (日本貨物鉄道株式会社), or JR Freight (JR貨物), is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station.

The Japan Railways Group was founded on 1 April 1987, when Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatized. Japanese National Railways was divided into six regional passenger rail companies and a single freight railway company, Japan Freight Railway Company.

The company has only about 50 km of track of its own, and therefore operates on track owned by the six JR passenger railways as well as other companies which provide rail transport in Japan.

Economics
In 2017, only about 5% of all freight in Japan is carried by rail but nearly all of that, 99%, is carried by JR Freight. Trucks carry about 50% and ships about 44%. JR Freight has seen its share of the freight market gradually decrease since 1993. In the 2010s JR Freight has been carrying more freight because of the decrease in the number of available truck drivers due to age as well as government policy to reduce carbon dioxide. JR Freight has run a deficit for many years.

Lines
While major part of the operation of JR Freight is on the tracks owned and maintained by other JR companies, JR Freight owns the railway lines (as Category-1 railway business) as follows:

Rolling stock
, JR Freight owns and operates the following rolling stock, with most of the newer motive stock being exclusively built by Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions:

Diesel locomotives

 * JNR Class DE10 B-C diesel-hydraulic locomotives
 * JNR Class DE11 B-C diesel-hydraulic locomotives
 * JR Freight Class DB500 B diesel-hydraulic locomotive
 * JR Freight Class DD200 Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class DF200 Bo-Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class HD300 Bo-Bo, hybrid diesel-battery locomotives

Electric locomotives

 * JNR Class EF64 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class EF65 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class EF66 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class EF67 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class ED76 Bo-2-Bo AC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class EF81 Bo-Bo-Bo AC/DC electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class EF210 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class EH200 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class EF510 Bo-Bo-Bo AC/DC electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class EH500 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo AC/DC electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class EH800 Bo-Bo+Bo-Bo AC electric locomotives

Electric multiple units

 * M250 series freight EMU

Former rolling stock

 * JNR Class ED62 Bo-1-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class ED75 Bo-Bo AC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class ED79 Bo-Bo AC electric locomotives
 * JR Freight Class EF200 Bo-Bo-Bo DC electric locomotives
 * JNR Class DD51 B-2-B diesel-hydraulic locomotives