Japan's No.1 freight train company halts all cargo, NHK reports

SG Holdings

11/09/2024 10:49

TOKYO, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Japan Freight Railway (JR
Freight) suspended all cargo train operations on Wednesday after
the company found evidence of misconduct in safety tests, public
broadcaster NHK reported.
    The suspension by the biggest cargo train company in Japan
led to at least a day-long delay in parcel delivery services,
according to courier operators, while the full extent of the
impact on the country's logistics remains unclear.
    JR Freight, the only Japanese firm operating cargo trains at
a nationwide level, said on Tuesday it had found inappropriate
procedures at three of its rail yards, where employees
fabricated data or ignored suboptimal safety test data during
wheel assembly procedures for cargo cars.
    Japan's transport ministry asked the company to conduct
emergency checks on all cargo cars to ensure the safety of
wheels. JR Freight decided on Wednesday to keep all of its cars
out of action until their safety is confirmed, according to NHK.
    JR Freight did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
    The company aims to resume operations by the end of
Wednesday and minimise the logistical impact by increasing the
payload of each cargo car, Kyodo news agency later reported.
    Delivery service company Yamato  9064.T  said some of its
longer-distance domestic parcels would face delays of more than
one day. SG Holdings' Sagawa  9143.T , Fukuyama Transporting
 9075.T , and Seino  9076.T  also apologised to customers for
delivery delays due to JR Freight's cargo suspension.
    JR Freight was founded in 1987 to succeed the privatised
cargo business of the state-owned Japanese National Railways and
operates more than 7,000 cargo cars, according to its website.

 (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @kantarokomiya;))