West Japan Railway Company

For its first four years JR West leased its highest-revenue line, the San'yō Shinkansen, from the separate Shinkansen Holding Corporation, buying the line's facilities outright on 1 October 1991 at a cost of 974.1 billion yen in long-term debt. From soon after founding it concentrated investment on the Kyoto–Osaka–Kobe commuter operation it branded the "Urban Network", introducing new 221 series trains and expanding its flagship Special Rapid services. Early landmarks included the full opening of the Honshi–Bisan Line (Seto-Ōhashi Line) on 10 April 1988, the start of San'yō Shinkansen "Nozomi" services on 18 March 1993, and the opening of the Kansai Airport Line in June 1994.

On 17 January 1995 the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake derailed eight conventional-line trains, wrecked elevated structures around Rokkōmichi Station and, striking before the day's first trains, left San'yō Shinkansen piers severely damaged and viaducts collapsed; conventional lines were fully restored on 1 April 1995 and the Shinkansen on 8 April. Privatization advanced in stages: the JNR Settlement Corporation sold 68.3% of the company in an October 1996 initial public offering, listing on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges on 8 October and the Kyoto, Hiroshima and Fukuoka exchanges on 15 October. After the Settlement Corporation's dissolution in October 1998 its shares passed to the Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation, merged in October 2003 into the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT). A 2001 revision of the JR Companies Act removed the three Honshu JR companies from the law's scope, and on 12 March 2004 JRTT sold all of its remaining shares, completing JR West's privatization.

Two disasters mark its history. On 14 May 1991 a JR West extra train running through onto the Shigaraki Kōgen Railway in Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture, collided head-on with one of that railway's trains, killing 42 people, drivers and passengers combined, and injuring 614. On 25 April 2005 a Fukuchiyama Line (JR Takarazuka Line) train derailed between Amagasaki and Tsukaguchi, killing 107 people including the driver and injuring 562; the closed section reopened on 19 June, and the accident exposed wide-ranging problems inside JR West and deeply affected the Japanese railway industry. In a later serious incident, a crack was found at Nagoya on 11 December 2017 in a bogie of a JR West trainset working the through "Nozomi 34"; the company subsequently revived its dedicated unit for safe Shinkansen running, enlarged its maintenance and inspection organization, and moved to fit vibration-based anomaly detectors to its Shinkansen cars.

The ICOCA contactless smart card was launched on 1 November 2003. On 12 March 2011 the San'yō Shinkansen began through-running with the Kyushu Shinkansen, newly extended to Hakata, with the new "Sakura" and "Mizuho" services; the Osaka Station City complex opened that May. On 14 March 2015 the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened between Nagano and Kanazawa, with JR West operating the Jōetsumyōkō–Kanazawa section and the parallel Kanazawa–Naoetsu section passing to IR Ishikawa Railway, Ainokaze Toyama Railway and Echigo Tokimeki Railway. Retrenchment followed: the 108.1 km Sankō Line closed on 1 April 2018 — the first complete closure of a line of more than 100 km on Honshu since the JR companies began — and the July 2018 torrential rains damaged lines across the Chūgoku region, the last section reopening in October 2019. On 16 March 2024 the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, the parallel Kanazawa–Tsuruga section passing to IR Ishikawa Railway and Hapi-Line Fukui.

The coronavirus pandemic brought the company's largest-ever annual loss, 233.2 billion yen for the year to March 2021, and in April 2022 its listing moved to the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime market, the Nagoya and Fukuoka listings having ended in December 2020. Today JR West operates the entire San'yō Shinkansen between Shin-Ōsaka and Hakata and the Hokuriku Shinkansen between Jōetsumyōkō and Tsuruga, plus conventional lines across most of the Kinki, Hokuriku and Chūgoku regions and parts of the Shin'etsu region and Fukuoka Prefecture — 4,897.5 operating kilometres and 1,150 stations, each figure second among Japanese railway operators only to JR East. Transport provides about half of consolidated sales, alongside retailing, real estate, hotel and other group businesses, including the Isetan department-store joint venture at Kyoto Station. The shares are constituents of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Large70, JR West being one of only three JR Group members of the Nikkei 225, alongside JR East and JR Central.

• 19871 April: Japanese National Railways was divided and privatized; West Japan Railway Company was founded, taking over the railway and shipping operations of JNR's Osaka, Tennōji, Fukuchiyama, Okayama, Yonago, Hiroshima and Kanazawa railway management bureaus together with the San'yō Shinkansen.
• 198810 April: the Honshi–Bisan Line (Seto-Ōhashi Line) opened in full and the "Marine Liner" rapid service began.
• 199114 May: a JR West extra train running through onto the Shigaraki Kōgen Railway collided head-on with one of that railway's trains, killing 42 people and injuring 614 (the Shigaraki rail disaster). 1 October: JR West purchased the San'yō Shinkansen facilities from the Shinkansen Holding Corporation.
• 199318 March: "Nozomi" services began on the San'yō Shinkansen.
• 199517 January: the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake caused severe damage, derailing eight trains on conventional lines and leaving San'yō Shinkansen piers severely damaged and viaducts collapsed; conventional lines were fully restored on 1 April and the San'yō Shinkansen on 8 April.
• 19968 October: shares were listed on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges, and on 15 October on the Kyoto, Hiroshima and Fukuoka exchanges; the JNR Settlement Corporation sold 68.3% of the company in the initial public offering.
• 19978 March: the JR Tōzai Line opened, the company's first underground line. 22 March: the 500 series Shinkansen entered service as "Nozomi" on the San'yō Shinkansen.
• 20031 November: the ICOCA contactless smart-card service was launched.
• 200412 March: the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency sold all of the shares it held, completing JR West's privatization.
• 200525 April: a Fukuchiyama Line (JR Takarazuka Line) train derailed between Amagasaki and Tsukaguchi, killing 107 people including the driver and injuring 562 (the Amagasaki derailment); the closed section reopened on 19 June. The accident exposed wide-ranging problems within JR West and deeply affected the Japanese railway industry.
• 201112 March: the San'yō Shinkansen began through-running with the Kyushu Shinkansen, newly extended to Hakata, introducing the "Sakura" and "Mizuho" services. 4 May: the Osaka Station City complex opened.
• 201514 March: the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened between Nagano and Kanazawa, with JR West operating the Jōetsumyōkō–Kanazawa section; the parallel Kanazawa–Naoetsu portion of the Hokuriku Main Line was transferred to IR Ishikawa Railway, Ainokaze Toyama Railway and Echigo Tokimeki Railway.
• 20181 April: the 108.1 km Sankō Line was abolished, the first complete closure of a JR line of more than 100 km on Honshu since the JR companies were founded. From 5 July, torrential rains damaged many lines across the Chūgoku region; the last damaged section, on the Geibi Line, reopened on 23 October 2019.
• 202416 March: the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended from Kanazawa to Tsuruga; the parallel Kanazawa–Tsuruga section of the Hokuriku Main Line was transferred to IR Ishikawa Railway and Hapi-Line Fukui.