In 1987 Japanese National Railway ("JNR"), a public corporation, was privatized and split into one freight railway company and six passenger railway companies with a view to bringing about a rebirth of railway enterprise. Our company was inaugurated as East Japan Railway Company ("JR East") with a service area covering the Metropolitan Tokyo and Tohoku region.

In this paper I will review how JR East as a leading passenger railway company in Japan has constructed, since its beginning in 1987, the Strategic Railway Systems ("SRS"), which are necessarily required for the management of a privatized company and which can be a powerful tool for the enhancement of management efficiency. I will discuss the underlying basic concept and the technologies applied in the construction of SRS.

I will first go over the history of introduction of SRS by comparing it with the form of a railway system which was dictated by the needs of management of a public corporation in the era of JNR.

I will then touch upon the technical background which made is possible to build SRS, particularly the technological progress in the IT area and Autonomous Decentralized System ("ADS") technologies. I will expound on how such new technologies came to be adopted into the railway system, what specific functions they were designed to fulfill and what practical effects were realized as a result.

Finally, I will set forth my view on what future progress is expected of SRS which is in use today.