Central Japan Railway Company said its net loss in the first half of the fiscal year was about 1.1 billion dollars. Group sales fell 64 percent from the same period in 2019.

It's the group's first loss for the period since 2000, when it began releasing half-year results.

The company, known as JR Tokai, operates Japan's most-traveled bullet train line connecting Tokyo and Osaka. The number of people using the service dropped 76 percent in the half-year period.

JR Tokai expects its net loss to widen for the full year.

Train ridership is beginning to pick up, thanks to the government's "Go To Travel" campaign that subsidizes domestic tourism.

But railway operators say it will be difficult for the number of passengers to return to pre-pandemic levels as the virus outbreak has changed people's lifestyles .