The Nishi-Nippon Railroad Company, Ltd. (西日本鉄道株式会社), also called Nishitetsu (西鉄) or NNR, tyo: 9031 is one of Japan's "Big 16" private railroad companies. With headquarters in Fukuoka, it operates local and highway buses, supermarkets, real estate and travel agencies, as well as railways in Fukuoka Prefecture. It also owns the Chikuhō Electric Railroad. In addition, in 1943 the company owned the Nishitetsu Baseball Club, a team in the Japanese Baseball League. From 1950 to 1972, the company owned the Lions (in 1950, known as the Clippers), a Pacific League baseball team. The company introduced nimoca, a smart card ticketing system, in May 2008.

Routes

Nishi-Nippon Railroad operates four railway lines:

(standard-gauge)

(narrow-gauge)

Major local bus routes extend to Kitakyushu and serve other municipalities in the prefecture. Long-haul routes carry traffic to other prefectures in Kyushu, across the Kanmon Straits to Shimonoseki, and serve Osaka, Nagoya, and Shinjuku in Tokyo.

Rolling stock

Active

Standard gauge

Narrow gauge

Retired

Standard gauge

Real estate investment

In 2015 Nishitetsu along with Hankyu Hanshin Holdings and a Vietnamese real estate company set up a joint venture to develop condominiums in Vietnam, initially in Ho Chi Minh City.