Portal:Trains/Selected picture/Week 51, 2007

A Japanese National Railways (JNR) freight train in Hokkaidō on March 13, 1973. JNR was formed in 1949 as a state-owned public corporation, and launched the high-speed Shinkansen service in 1964. However, the network's rapid expansion also pulled it further and further into debt as it took out huge loans to fund new capital projects. By 1987, JNR's debt was over ¥25 trillion ($200 billion), which led to the company's privatisation into several companies collectively called the Japan Railways Group (JR Group).