http://www.mlit.go.jp/english/2006/h_railway_bureau/Laws_concerning/index.html -- PDFed translations of various railway-related laws in Japan.

Mind, I'm not sure anyone would want, say, JR Hokkaido unless they got enough of a tax break out of it.

>>132370
I think the bad PR and paper bureaucracy associated with negatively gearing an entire island's railway while somehow managing a positive cashflow would be too gargantuan for even JR East to risk lol.

Wouldn't put it past some of the private equity firms here to pump and dump such a thing though, which would probably kill even the Hokkaido Shinkansen in the process.

>>132371
Kokutetsu was profitable the last years prior to the privatisaiton as a whole because of the debt transfer and cuts that had already been made starting from the 1980 reorganisation act.

It would burden down the incomes of them though if they were, so they'd obviously be against it.