Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said Thursday it suffered its first fall in group sales in three years in fiscal 2002. It attributed the decline to a slump in core bullet train services on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line amid an adverse business environment and intense competition with airlines.
The nation's largest railway operator reported a 0.3 percent fall in group sales to 1.36 trillion yen, with shinkansen sales posting their first decline in three years. Sales from the company's bullet train and other railroad services slipped 19.3 billion yen to 1.04 trillion yen.
While sales generated by the firm's overall transportation business dropped 19.5 billion yen, or 1.7 percent, to 1.1 trillion yen, sales generated by the company's department store, real estate and hotel businesses all rose.
Due to an increase in costs for repair work on bullet train railroads, group operating profit fell 29 billion yen, or 7.8 percent, to 341.4 billion yen.