JR West in the context of "Central Japan Railway Company"

The Shinkansen (Japanese: 新幹線; [ɕiŋkaꜜɰ̃seɴ] , lit. 'new trunk line'), colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was initially built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond long-distance travel, some sections around the largest metropolitan areas are used as a commuter rail network. It is owned by the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency and operated by five Japan Railways Group companies.

Starting with the Tokaido Shinkansen (515.4 km; 320.3 mi) in 1964, the network has expanded to consist of 2,951.3 km (1,833.9 mi) of lines with maximum speeds of 260–320 km/h (160–200 mph), 283.5 km (176.2 mi) of Mini-shinkansen lines with a maximum speed of 130 km/h (80 mph), and 10.3 km (6.4 mi) of spur lines with Shinkansen services. The network links most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, and connects to Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido. An extension to Sapporo is under construction and was initially scheduled to open by fiscal year 2030, but in December 2024, it was delayed until the end of FY2038. The maximum operating speed is 320 km/h (200 mph) (on a 387.5 km (241 mi) section of the Tōhoku Shinkansen). Test runs have reached 443 km/h (275 mph) for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world record 603 km/h (375 mph) for SCMaglev trains in April 2015.

The Japanese National Railway Settlement Corporation (日本国有鉄道清算事業団, Nihon Kokuyū Tetsudō Seisan Jigyōdan), or JNRSC, was a temporary holding company created to distribute the assets of the former Japanese National Railways (JNR) after its privatization in the mid-1980s. On October 22, 1998, the JNRSC was disbanded and placed under the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation, JRCC, and its assets were transferred. Currently, the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency holds the liabilities and assets of the JNRSC.

The goal of disbanding the JNR was to privatize the newly created JR satellite companies, known collectively as the JR Group. Each of the seven companies was created as a kabushiki gaisha with the Japanese government as sole shareholder. Currently, JR East, JR West, JR Central and JR Kyushu are entirely privatized. JNRSC still holds titles to the remaining three JR Group companies, Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku), and the Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight).