About Japan Private Railway Association

May 22, 2026

As I enter my second year in office, first and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the understanding and support you have consistently given to the private railway industry over the past year.

Last year was a very favorable one for railway business operators with a significant boost to passenger demand as Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, which was held over a period of six months, ended in great success, and the number of foreign visitors to Japan also reached a record high.
Nevertheless, the reality is that transport demand has not returned to the level before the pandemic due to factors such as changes in people’s behavior, particularly telework. This, added to such factors as increasingly severe labor shortages and inflation, means that the environment surrounding the railway business remains challenging. In particular, regional private railway companies have experienced even more challenging business conditions.
In addition, there is an urgent need to update aging equipment and infrastructure and address natural disasters that are becoming increasingly severe. As we go forward, it is also necessary to continually accelerate the introduction of barrier-free facilities, as well as green transformation (GX) and digital transformation (DX) initiatives.
Furthermore, at present, in the wake of the situation in Iran, there are concerns about a surge in energy costs (electricity costs), as well as shortages of petroleum-derived products necessary for the maintenance and repair of equipment.

Although the challenges for the industry are mounting up in this way, Japan's private railways serve not only as public transportation indispensable to the daily lives of the nation's people, but also as fundamental transport infrastructure that supports the country's economy and society, and as such they bear a significant role in Japanese society. Therefore, the Association and each of our member companies are diligently working together so that we can continue to fulfill this weighty responsibility and to ensure the sustainable development of the industry while overcoming the various hurdles described above.

In these circumstances, the Association, which is the industry organization, has been promoting reforms including the revision of our Articles of Incorporation and a review of our operations for about two years. This fiscal year, as the culmination of this series of reforms, we have set out our commitment to working toward strengthening and exercising our capacity for policy proposal and lobbying activities.
More specifically, not only will we accurately identify the needs of the industry, we will also work to accelerate our examination of important issues, such as through the establishment of new study groups under the relevant committees, to ensure that we obtain certain concrete proposals as quickly as possible. Building on that, I am committed to doing my utmost to ensure that the Association can fulfill its roles and responsibilities to the maximum extent possible, including by making policy proposals and taking other steps to solve the issues.

I sincerely hope for your continued understanding and cooperation with regard to these initiatives being taken by the Association.