The Pride of Japanese Railways: Global Ridership Rankings ②

Following up on our previous article, we want to discuss “Japan’s railways that we can be proud of.” Last time, we focused on the amazing reliability and punctuality of Japan’s rail system. This time, we want to look at it from the perspective of total annual passenger ridership.

What do you think this number means: “24.9 billion”? Each company and government around the world publishes figures for their “annual passenger transport volume.” This is the number of people who used the railway in a given year. If Japan’s population is 126 million, and every single citizen rode the train once a year, the calculation would be “126 million x 1 trip = 126 million.” For example, France, which boasts the world-renowned TGV system we mentioned before, ranks 6th globally with 1.1 billion riders. Since France’s population is 67 million, that means each person rides the train about 16 times a year. This “24.9 billion” figure? That belongs to Japan. And not only that—it puts us far ahead of second place! It means people are using the railway an average of 197 times a year. India ranks second with 6.5 billion, which is only about five trips per year. Even if you aren’t a rail enthusiast, have you ever seen trains packed so full that passengers are standing on the roof? While it seems like many people use them, that isn’t always the case. Whether those people on the roof pay money or are counted in the numbers is debatable…
Furthermore, Japan dominates the rankings even when looking at individual railway companies. The French system mentioned earlier relies on a national network similar to the former Japanese National Railways (known as JNR) and today’s SNCF. Its annual ridership is “1.1 billion.” This is roughly comparable to the Tokyu Corporation (Tokyo Rapid Transit). Higher numbers belong to British Rail at “1.2 billion,” Deutsche Bahn, which operates railways across all of Germany, with “1.8 billion.” And matching that scale is JR West. Even though it only covers the western side of Honshu and has about one-seventh the track length of Deutsche Bahn’s network, its ridership is comparable. Other major players include JR Kyushu with “300 million,” JR Tokai with “500 million,” Osaka Metro (Osaka subway) with “800 million,” and combining Tokyo Metro and the Tokyo metropolitan subway system reaches “3.4 billion”… And the top spot belongs to JR East, with a staggering “6.1 billion.” The commuting demand in the Tokyo metropolitan area is immense, but this figure covers only the northern half of Honshu! Considering that the entire transport volume for China is “1.8 billion,” you can truly grasp how many people Japan’s railways move. Incidentally, JR East also ranks number one globally in terms of operating revenue from its railway business! At 1.6 trillion yen, this amount surpasses the revenues of major systems like SNCF and Deutsche Bahn, which have far greater track distances. You might be familiar with it, but JR East is the world’s largest railway operator, boasting both the largest operational scale and the highest ridership figures. It means selling the most tickets and transporting the most people. Japanese railways are amazing, aren’t they?