East Japan Railway (JR East) said Friday that it has applied for government approval to raise its fares by 7.1% on average in March 2026 as it struggles with higher costs and seeks to increase investment in railway safety measures.
The company plans to raise standard fares by 7.8%, commuter passes by 12% and student commuter passes by 4.9%. The base fare for the Yamanote Line in central Tokyo will rise from ¥150 to ¥160.
The plan would see JR East's first full-fledged fare hike, other than when the consumption tax rate was raised, since its founding in 1987 through the breakup and privatization of Japanese National Railways.
JR East expects the higher fares to push up revenues by ¥88.1 billion per year.
The company said that price rises are necessary to replace aging train cars and equipment amid soaring materials costs. It also said that it needs to raise wages to secure personnel amid chronic labor shortages due to the country's aging population.
"We have to spend effort and money on safe railway operations," JR East Executive Vice President Chiharu Watari told a news conference, asking for customers' understanding over the higher fares.
Some other JR companies are also planning to increase their fares. Hokkaido Railway, also known as JR Hokkaido, and Kyushu Railway, commonly known as JR Kyushu, will raise their fares by an average of 7.6% and 15%, respectively, in April 2025.
The number of passengers has been recovering from a slump during the COVID-19 pandemic. But JR companies are still grappling with slow growth in users of commuter passes due to changing lifestyles. The companies are also burdened by loss-making regional train routes.
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