A juridical foundation, Railway Research-Culture Promotion Foundation, RRPF, was established on 15th March 1948, by the donation from Mr Tokutaro Kitamura, a former Transport Minister of Japan.

The mission of the foundation was to support Railway Technical Research Institute, Japanese National Railways, particularly to make RTRI's research results fit for practical use and promote their research activities.

After the privatization and division of the Japanese National Railways on 1 April 1987, with the establishment of the JR (Japan Railways) Companies, the RTRI became also a juridical foundation. Both institutes collaborate as sister foundations, though the size and ability extremely differ. Actually, Ken-yusha acts as a kind of subsidiary of the RTRI in areas of RTRI related publication, information dissemination, seminar operation secretariat, technical information investigation, etc.

In 2013, we had the 65th anniversary.

Since April 1, 2013

Following the enforcement of the law "Act on Authorization of Public Interest Incorporated Associations and Public Interest Incorporated Foundation", RRPF was established as a general incorporated foundation on the first of April 2013. Nevertheless, the new RRPF has taken over all the activities, employees, responsibilities and relationship with RTRI from the old organisation.

The mission of the foundation has been widened to support transport technology in general and to contribute to the advancement of science and technology, though the main target is still the Railway Technical Research Institute, which became a public interest corporation in 2011.

Note that a general incorporated foundation operating the business for public interest purposes can become a public interest corporation upon authorization by the administrative agency.

Although we are still non-profit and a public interest organisation as stipulated by our articles of incorporation, as we are a general incorporated foundation, we become more flexible in our activities and we hope to expand our business in any directions towards public prosperity.

1.Sale of magazines

We are selling the following technical and non technical magazines published by the RTRI. If you would like to order one of the following magazines, please contact us via kn_webadmin@kenf.or.jp.

• Quarterly Report of RTRI  :　Selected technical papers in English published quarterly
• RTRI REPORT  :　Flagship technical papers in Japanese with English abstracts
• Railway Research Review (RRR)  :　Easily readable technical magazine for non technical readers in Japanese

2. Book Sales

We are selling technical books and booklets relating to the RTRI research results. If you order one of the books, please contact us at kn_webadmin@kenf.or.jp.

Note: The receiving fee via banks is required when we receive the remittance from the abroad. Please add 5,000 Yen to the total amount if you pay from abroad.

This applies to any remittance to our foundation from abroad other than book sales.

3. Seminars

The RTRI holds monthly presentations for the timely release of information on the RTRI's achievements in various fields of research. Railway Technology Courses are offered for a fee at the Kunitachi Institute to take advantage of the RTRI's technological potential and to spread basic railway technologies and research results. RRPF plays the secretariat for these activities.

4. Translation

We are doing translation between Japanese and various languages, by ourselves and coordination with other translation firms.

5. Investigation

We are doing technical investigation for Japanese and overseas technology advancement. We have a pool of able researchers who retired from the RTRI in every railway technical area. Please feel free to ask the possibility of investigations on any area of Japanese railway technology.