Sales and listing of JR shares
JR shares, which the Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation inherited at the time of the JNR reform, were considered the capital for repaying JNR's long-term liabilities. The Cabinet approved the early sale of shares in December 1989. In response, the shares of JR East went public on October 26, 1993 (2.5 million of 4 million shares sold to raise 1.1 trillion yen), followed by JR West on October 8, 1996 (1.37 million of 2 million shares sold to raise 0.5 trillion yen), and JR Tokai on October 8, 1997 (1.354 million of 2.24 million shares sold to raise 0.9 trillion yen). Meanwhile, the offering of JR Hokakido, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Freight remains pending, due to the difficult management environment of those companies. The three JR mainland companies, on the other hand, intend to sell their remaining shares to achieve fully independent management.
Railway Development Fund: Corporation for Advanced Transport and Technology
In the 1987 reform of JNR, the Shinkansen Holding Corporation was established to inherit the railway facilities of existing Shinkansen bullet train lines. The organization was disbanded in October 1991, after transferring all Shinkansen facilities to JR East, JR Tokai, and JR West. All rights and obligations of the Shinkansen Holding Corporation were inherited by a newly established "Railway Development Fund" which has two main duties. One is to repay the long-term liabilities and interest taken over from the Shinkansen Holding Corporation (8,094.1 billion yen). The other is to provide funds to railway projects. This includes fund to the (1) construction of new Shinkansen bullet train lines, (2) development of urban railway services, (3) development of railway technologies, and (4) measures for railway safety and fire prevention. The Fund was consolidated with the Maritime Credit Corporation and renamed Corporation for Advanced Transport and Technology as of October 1, 1997.
