List of railway lines in Japan

List of railway lines in Japan lists existing railway lines in Japan alphabetically.

The vast majority of Japanese railways are classified under two Japanese laws, one for nihongo|railways|鉄道|tetsudō and another for nihongo|trams|軌道|kidō. The difference between the two is a legal, and not always substantial, one. Some regional rails are classified as "kidō", while some light rails are actually "tetsudō". There are also other railways not legally classified as either "tetsudō" or "kidō", such as airport people movers, "slope cars" (automated small rack monorails), or amusement park rides. Those lines are not listed here.

According to the laws, "tetsudō/kidō" include conventional railways (over ground or underground), as well as maglev trains, monorails, "new transit systems" (a blanket term roughly equivalent to people mover or automated guideway transit in other countries), "skyrails" (automated small cable monorails), trams, trolleybuses, guideway buses, funiculars (called "cable cars" in Japan), and aerial lifts. Among them, all but aerial lifts are listed here. See the list of aerial lifts in Japan article for aerial lifts.

Some industrial railways are also classified as "tetsudō/kidō", while some are not. However, this list does not include any industrial railways. See the corresponding Japanese article for the listing.

"Tetsudō/kidō" also include (non-funicular) cable cars, horsecars, and handcars, but those modes of transportation have already disappeared from the country.

The list basically shows line names without operator names. When the official line name does include the operator name, the line is listed twice, with and without the operator.

To make the search easier, official nicknames and unofficial common names are also listed.

Some English names are tentative translations.

ee also

*List of railway companies in Japan
*List of railway stations in Japan
*List of railway electrification systems in Japan
*Rail transport in Japan
*Monorails in Japan
*List of aerial lifts in Japan
*List of airport people mover systems
*List of defunct railway companies in Japan
* (Industrial railway)
* (Uncompleted line)

Gallery

These modes of transport are all classified as railway in Japan.

These are "not" classified as railway in Japan, thus not covered in this article.