21-604: The Biwako Line ( 琵琶湖線 , Biwako-sen ) is the nickname used by the operator of the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) to refer to the portion of the Tōkaidō Main Line (between Maibara Station and Kyoto Station ) and the Hokuriku Main Line (between Maibara Station and Nagahama Station ). The section, along with JR Kyoto Line and JR Kobe Line , forms a contiguous service that
42-680: A 500 yen deposit that will be returned if the card is returned. The remaining 1500 yen is immediately available for use on transit, and more money can be charged on to the card at similar ticket vending machines or fare adjustment machines inside each station. Cards may only be returned in JR West stations, meaning that travelers who start their trip in JR West's service area and finish their trip elsewhere may not be able to return it before departure. Shikoku ICOCA are sold at several stations in Shikoku and can only be returned at those stations, and feature
63-928: A number of private commuter rail operators around Osaka, the "Big 4" being Hankyu Railway / Hanshin Railway (Hankyu bought Hanshin in April 2005), Keihan Railway , Kintetsu , and Nankai Railway . JR-West's market share in the region is roughly equal to that of the Big 4 put together, largely due to its comprehensive network and high-speed commuter trains (Special Rapid Service trains on the Kobe and Kyoto lines operate at up to 130 km/h). Those in italics are announcement names. A number of other lines account for more than half of JR-West's track mileage. These lines mainly handle business and leisure travel between smaller cities and rural areas in western Japan. They account for about 20% of
84-642: A short commuter line with Shinkansen trains in Fukuoka . The "Urban Network" is JR-West's name for its commuter rail lines in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. These lines together comprise 610 km of track, have 245 stations and account for about 43% of JR-West's passenger revenues. Urban Network stations are equipped to handle ICOCA fare cards. Train control on these lines is highly automated, and during peak hours trains run as often as every two minutes. JR-West's Urban Network competes with
105-564: A special design. The card incorporates contactless RFID technology developed by Sony called FeliCa . The same technology is also deployed in other IC cards across Japan, in Edy electronic cash cards, and in the Octopus card in Hong Kong . A version for mobile phones known as Mobile ICOCA ( モバイルICOCA , Mobairu Ikoka ) , which uses Mobile FeliCa and Osaifu-Keitai functionality,
126-471: Is a blue platypus named Ico the Platypus ( カモノハシのイコちゃん , Kamonohashi no Iko-chan ) . Platypus characters for the children's ICOCA also exist and are named Icota ( イコ太 , Ikota ) and Icomi ( イコ美 , Ikomi ) . Usage of the card involves passing it over a card reader. The technology allows for the card to be read at some distance from the reader, so contact is not required, and many people leave
147-852: Is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange , is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and is also one of only three Japan Railways Group constituents of the Nikkei 225 index: the others are JR East and JR Central . It was also listed in the Nagoya and Fukuoka stock exchanges until late 2020. JR-West's highest-grossing line is the Sanyo Shinkansen high-speed rail line between Osaka and Fukuoka . The Sanyo Shinkansen alone accounts for about 40% of JR-West's passenger revenues. The company also operates Hakata Minami Line ,
168-549: Is now usable on many other networks nationwide. The ICOCA area has gradually been expanded, and now includes the San'yo region through the Okayama and Hiroshima urban areas, and some lines in northern Shikoku , San'in and Hokuriku regions as of 2024. ICOCA stands for IC O perating CA rd and is also a play on the phrase "Iko ka" ( 行こか ) , an informal, Kansai dialect invitation meaning "Shall we go?" The mascot for ICOCA
189-672: Is now listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nagoya Stock Exchange , Osaka Securities Exchange and Fukuoka Stock Exchange . ICOCA ICOCA ( イコカ , Ikoka ) is a rechargeable contactless smart card used on the JR West rail network in Japan . The card was launched on November 1, 2003, for usage on the Urban Network , which encompasses the major cities of Osaka , Kyoto , and Kobe ( Keihanshin ). It
210-522: Is required, ICOCA can only be used as fare ticket ( 乗車券 , jōshaken ) , for passing the ticket gate, for non-reserved travel, while the express ticket must purchased from the conductor on board the train (see train tickets in Japan ). Cards that are functionally equivalent to the standard ICOCA but with a visually different front design are sold by JR Shikoku , IR Ishikawa Railway , Ainokaze Toyama Railway , and Hapi-Line Fukui . The KIPS ICOCA variant
231-549: Is the main trunk of JR West's "Urban Network" commuter rail network in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area . The line is named after Lake Biwa ( 琵琶湖 , Biwa-ko ) , which the route runs along. Line nicknames were introduced when the newly privatized JR West intended to use "familiar" names over official line names, such as Tōkaidō Main Line and Fukuchiyama Line . Biwako Line did not appear on
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#1732775710556252-478: The "Biwako Line" nickname is used by the operator JR West for passenger announcements, the official status of Tōkaidō Main Line has not been changed or discussed. The counterpart for the line, Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) uses its official name "Tōkaidō Main Line" for the section of JR West, at the connections of Kyoto and Maibara. The "Biwako Line" nickname appears in some local newspapers and real estate advertisements. Frequent passengers understand that
273-482: The Biwako, JR Kyoto, JR Kobe lines are in fact one line, however, public recognition of the name is still in question, especially among non-users along the line. Stations are listed from east to west. The distance of Tokyo – Maibara is 445.9 km (277.1 mi), and that of Tokyo – Kyoto is 513.6 km (319.1 mi). Historically, the Tōkaidō Main Line continued from Tokyo to Kyoto and beyond, through Maibara. In
294-721: The Japanese timetable books, the distances from Tokyo are still shown in the table, although the Biwako Line's officially begins at Maibara. ■ Ohmi Railway Main Line (Northbound only) West Japan Railway Company The West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as JR West ( JR西日本 , Jeiāru Nishi-Nihon ) , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu . It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka . It
315-412: The card in their wallet and just pass the wallet over the reader as they enter the ticket gate. The balance on the card is displayed when passing through fare gates or inserting it into a ticket vending machine . A travel record is stored on the card, and may be displayed or printed out at fare adjustment or ticket vending machines. On occasion, when traveling to a station where ICOCA is not supported,
336-514: The card must be handed over to railway staff at the ticket gate so that they may calculate the fare to deduct, and to provide riders with a transfer slip, which can be given to staff at the next station where ICOCA is used. ICOCA functions as a boarding ticket ( 乗車券 , jōshaken ) also supports commuter pass ( 定期券 , teikiken ) functionality. However, for express services, such as the Haruka service to Kansai airport, on which an additional fee
357-511: The company's passenger revenues. JR-West subsidiaries include the following. JR-West was incorporated as a business corporation ( kabushiki kaisha ) on April 1, 1987, as part of the breakup of the state-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR). Initially, it was a wholly owned subsidiary of the JNR Settlement Corporation (JNRSC), a special company created to hold the assets of the former JNR while they were shuffled among
378-613: The first list, and instead The JR Kyoto Line was to be called up to Maibara. A move in Shiga Prefecture opposed the name, claiming that the name of Kyoto Line in Shiga sounds like an auxiliary, requiring its own name in the prefecture. Biwako Line was thus made to refer to the section between Maibara and Kyoto. The section of the name was extended to Nagahama, on the alteration of electric supply from 20 kV AC to 1,500 V DC, which enabled through operation to Kyoto and Osaka. Although
399-534: The new JR companies. For the first four years of its existence, JR-West leased its highest-revenue line, the Sanyō Shinkansen , from the separate Shinkansen Holding Corporation. JR-West purchased the line in October 1991 at a cost of 974.1 billion JPY (about US$ 7.2 billion) in long-term debt. JNRSC sold 68.3% of JR-West in an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 1996. After JNRSC
420-578: Was dissolved in October 1998, its shares of JR-West were transferred to the government-owned Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation (JRCC), which merged into the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT) as part of a bureaucratic reform package in October 2003. JRTT offered all of its shares in JR-West to the public in an international IPO in 2004, ending the era of government ownership of JR-West. JR-West
441-451: Was formerly sold by Kintetsu Railway . Since March 2013, ICOCA has been part of Japan's Nationwide Mutual Usage Service , allowing it to be used in major cities across the country. Prior to this system of interoperability between the 10 IC cards, a number of bilateral partnerships were formed with other companies and operators: These cards are available at card vending machines at the train stations. Cards cost 2000 yen , which includes
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