OREANDA-NEWS.  JR East Group has published Annual Report 2013 for the year ended March 31, 2013.

The Japanese population is in the process of declining as the population ages and the birth rate declines. Even so, railway passengers can still increase if population mobility can be encouraged to grow, even if the resident population declines. The Tokyo metropolitan area, where we are based, has seen a dramatic Increase in railway convenience in recent years. Consequently the share of railways in the transportation mix is rising even higher. As a prime objective, JR East will increase railway passengers in the Tokyo metropolitan area by steadfastly improving the convenience and comfort of riding trains. This will involve the opening of the Tohoku Through Line in fiscal 2015 to strengthen our services by reducing train transfers for passengers traveling on our lines.

Furthermore, our intercity network centered on Shinkansen lines is set to expand further with the scheduled opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa at the end of fiscal 2015, and the Hokkaido Shinkansen to Shin-Hakodate (provisional name) at the end of fiscal 2016.

The Life-style Service business, which consists of in-station retail facilities, station buildings, hotels and other services, is one of the three pillars of the JR East Group, alongside the railway business and Suica business, and account for roughly 30% of the Group’s operating revenues on a consolidated basis.

Our stations see 17 million people pass through every day, making them the JR East Group’s largest management resource. East Group’s will continue to pursue the potential of station space while creating new, more appealing services from a community-building standpoint. Preservation and restoration of the Tokyo Station Marunouchi building was completed in October 2012, and facilities such as the Tokyo Station Hotel were opened inside the building.

In addition to Tokyo Station, we are also promoting development projects focusing on large-scale terminal stations, such as Shinjuku, Shibuya, Yokohama, Chiba and Sendai, with a view to improving the value of those stations and the areas surrounding them.