Japan is comprised of the four main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku, with a total land area of roughly 378,000 km and a population of approximately 123 million.
Japan's railways form a vast network stretching throughout the entire country. Traffic volume for urban and inter-urban railways during FY 1993 is shown in Table 1.
Of these, JR railways form a nationwide network connecting the main island of Honshu with the islands of Hokkaido and Kyushu by tunnels, and the island of Shikoku by a great bridge.
Within this network, Japan's major cities are linked by the Shinkansen which features a maximum speed of 270 km/h and conventional high-speed lines with maximum speeds of between 120 and 130 km/h.
For way of reference, operated Shinkansen lines total roughly 2,050 km. and transport approximately 270 million passengers annually (about 700,000 passengers per day). 33% of JR lines are double tracked, and 55% are electrified.
Looking at domestic transport share by means of transport, railways account for 27.7% of passenger transport (passenger cars: 62%, bus: 10%) and 1.2% of freight transport tonnage (automobile: 90.5%, inland sea transport: 8.2%).
Table 1 Overall transport results for railways
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate the figures for JR companies.
