Nishi-Nippon Railroad

Nishitetsu bus

Nishitetsu bus(highway)

Nishitetsu train

Nishitetsu's logo since January 1997

Not to be confused with the West Japan Railway Company (JR West), a JR Group company based in Osaka.

The Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd. (西日本鉄道株式会社, Nishinippon Tetsudō Kabushiki-gaisha^?), also called Nishitetsu (西鉄^?) or NNR, TYO: 9031 is one of Japan's "Big 16" private railroad companies. With headquarters in Fukuoka, it operates local and highway buses, supermarkets, real-estate and travel agencies, as well as railways in Fukuoka Prefecture. In addition, from 1950 to 1972, the company owned the Lions (in 1950, the Clippers) Pacific League baseball team. The company introduced nimoca, a smart card ticketing system, from May 2008.

Routes

Nishi-Nippon Railroad operates four railway lines:

• Tenjin Ōmuta Line - linking Nishitetsu Fukuoka (Tenjin) Station in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka and Ōmuta Station in Ōmuta (74.8 km)
• Dazaifu Line - linking Nishitetsu Futsukaichi Station in Chikushino, Goto, and Dazaifu Station in Dazaifu (2.4 km)
• Amagi Line - linking Miyanojin Station in Kurume and Amagi Station in Amagi, passing through Tachiarai (17.9 km)
• Kaizuka Line - linking Kaizuka Station in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka and Nishitetsu Shingū Station in Shingū (11.0 km)

Major local bus routes extend to Kitakyūshū and serve other municipalities in the prefecture. Long-haul routes carry traffic to other prefectures in Kyushu, across the Kanmon Straits to Shimonoseki, and serve Osaka, Nagoya, and Shinjuku in Tokyo.

See also

• Rail transport in Japan

External links

• Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co., Ltd. Home page (in Japanese)
• Time Schedules Train & Bus (in English)