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Kyushu Railway Company (9142 JP) is a regional commuter train and real estate operator on the Japanese island of Kyushu. It has close to a monopoly on the main rail infrastructure on the island, with 22 lines across 567 stations, transporting 300 million passengers yearly.
The rail business itself is uninteresting. Fares are capped through regulation, and the population growth on the island of Kyushu has stagnated.
But modern-day Kyushu Railway is more a real estate developer than a railway company. Like MTR Corporation in Hong Kong, Kyushu Railway takes full advantage of the fact that it can get hold of valuable land next to its railway stations. It then builds commercial property around those stations and rents them out profitably.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Japan in early 2020, railway traffic has ground to a halt. The recovery has so far been modest.
There are two potential reasons for optimism. One is that the COVID-19 case count has started dropping in Japan and Kyushu. The second is that Japan’s borders will open from 10 June onwards. Kyushu is a major tourist destination that’s especially popular among Korean tourists.
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