The Japan Fair Trade Commission conducted on-site inspections Tuesday of six companies, including Central Japan Railway, or JR Central, for suspected violation of the antimonopoly law over their alleged bid-rigging for railway bridge maintenance work, according to informed sources.
The companies also include JR Central Consultants, Dainichi Consultant, Tonichi Engineering Consultants, Japan Transportation Consultants, and a company in the city of Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture.
They are suspected of conspiring to decide in advance which company would win contracts for land bridge inspection work on 10 of JR Central's lines.
JR Central, which did not participate in the bidding, is believed to have been involved as a coordinator in the case.
Visual inspections of all bridges and tunnels every five years became mandatory in fiscal 2014, after the road act was revised following a December 2012 accident in which the ceiling of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture partially collapsed.
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