Central Japan Railway Company

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen dominates the company's economics. At founding it inherited 319.1 billion yen in long-term debt, and on 1 October 1991 it purchased the Tōkaidō Shinkansen's facilities from the Shinkansen Holding Corporation, taking on a further 5.09 trillion yen of debt whose repayment became a major management issue. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen accounts for about 88 percent of rail-segment revenue - the highest Shinkansen share of any JR company, with conventional-line transport revenue under a tenth of the total - and as of March 2017 every conventional line was loss-making, while operating profit exceeds that of JR East, the JR Group's largest company by revenue. JR Central is Japan's most profitable and highest-throughput high-speed-rail operator, carrying 138 million high-speed-rail passengers in 2009 - considerably more than the world's largest airline - out of Japan's 289 million that year.

The Nozomi service began between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka on 14 March 1992, extending to Tokyo-Hakata operation in March 1993, and the 0 series made its final Tōkaidō Shinkansen run on 18 September 1999, closing 35 years of history. After the dissolution of the Shinkansen Holding Corporation made fleet renewal easier, the company introduced the 300, 700, N700, N700A and N700S series in succession; the N700 entered service in July 2007, the N700A in 2013 and the N700S in July 2020, while the 700 series ended operation in March 2020. Shinagawa Station on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened on 1 October 2003, when the line's maximum operating speed was unified at 270 km/h. Online booking arrived with Express Reservation in September 2001 and the Smart EX ticketless service in 2017; the TOICA IC fare card, introduced in the Nagoya area in November 2006, became interoperable with Suica and ICOCA in 2008 and with IC cards nationwide in 2013.

JR Central was listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Kyoto stock exchanges on 8 October 1997. In June 2001 a revision of the JR Companies Act removed the three Honshu JR companies from its scope, and on 5 April 2006 the company bought back the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency's entire remaining holding - 286,071 shares at 1.15 million yen each, about 328.9 billion yen - achieving complete privatization, the third listed JR company to do so after JR East and JR West. Around its Nagoya hub it developed the JR Central Towers above Nagoya Station, opened on 20 December 1999 and recorded by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest station building, followed by the JR Nagoya Takashimaya department store (2000, with Takashimaya) and the JR Gate Tower (2016). In October 2008 it acquired 50.86 percent of the rolling-stock manufacturer Nippon Sharyo by tender offer, making it a consolidated subsidiary.

The company has pursued superconducting maglev development with the Railway Technical Research Institute since its founding; the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line was established in July 1996. On 25 December 2007 it announced that it would build the Chūō Shinkansen - a maglev line of about 290 kilometres between the Tokyo and Chūkyō areas, estimated at about 5.1 trillion yen - entirely at its own expense, and on 20 May 2011 the transport ministry formally designated JR Central as its constructor and operator. The Shinagawa-Nagoya section was targeted for 2027, but the Shizuoka Prefecture section remains unstarted amid the dispute over reduced Ōi River flow, and the company has called a 2027 opening difficult. Its railway museum, the リニア・鉄道館 (Maglev and Railway Museum), opened at Kinjō Pier in Nagoya on 14 March 2011. Overseas, it announced in January 2010 that it would market its N700-I Bullet high-speed-rail and SCMAGLEV superconducting maglev systems abroad; as of 2018 it had two US high-speed-rail projects under way or in promotion, provided technical consulting to Taiwan High Speed Rail, and supported Texas Central Railway. Including the Tōkaidō Shinkansen's 552.6 km, the network totalled 1,970.8 km with 403 stations as of the company's 2008 data book.

• 19871 April: in the division and privatization of Japanese National Railways, Central Japan Railway Company was founded, inheriting the Tōkaidō Shinkansen and the conventional lines managed by the Shizuoka and Nagoya railway operating divisions.
• 19911 October: JR Central purchased the facilities of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen from the Shinkansen Holding Corporation.
• 199214 March: the Nozomi Shinkansen service began operating between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka.
• 19961 July: the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line was established.
• 19978 October: JR Central was listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Kyoto stock exchanges.
• 199918 September: the 0 series made its final run on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, closing 35 years of history. 20 December: the JR Central Towers above Nagoya Station opened.
• 20031 October: Shinagawa Station opened on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, and the line's maximum operating speed was unified at 270 km/h.
• 20065 April: JR Central bought back all shares held by the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, completing full privatization. 25 November: the TOICA IC fare card was introduced on conventional lines in the Nagoya area.
• 20071 July: the N700 series entered revenue service on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen. 25 December: the company announced that it would build the Chūō Shinkansen maglev line entirely at its own expense.
• 201114 March: the リニア・鉄道館 (Maglev and Railway Museum) opened at Kinjō Pier, Nagoya. 20 May: the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism formally designated JR Central as the constructor and operator of the Chūō Shinkansen.
• 20141 October: the Tōkaidō Shinkansen marked the 50th anniversary of its opening, with commemorative departure ceremonies at Tokyo, Shizuoka, Nagoya and Shin-Ōsaka stations.
• 20201 March: the 700 series ended operation on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen. 1 July: the N700S entered revenue service.