Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday that the government hopes relevant parties will keep aiming for the full completion of a magnetic levitation train line due to connect Tokyo and Osaka by 2037, after an expected delay due to the stalled construction of the line¡¯s Tokyo-Nagoya portion.
During a Friday meeting with Central Japan Railway (JR Central) President Shunsuke Niwa and governors of eight prefectures that the maglev line cuts through, Kishida said the central government will work with them to achieve an early completion.
¡°The government is committed to continuing our efforts toward the earliest possible full opening of the (maglev line) as a national project,¡± he said, adding that he hopes the governors will cooperate from their ¡°respective standpoints.¡±
After TV Tokyo first reported the scheduled meeting shortly before noon, JR Central¡¯s share price rebounded from a low opening in the morning, and narrowed the day¡¯s drop to 0.14% by the end of trading hours.
The rail operator had previously followed a two-step construction plan ¡ª to finish the portion between Tokyo and Nagoya by 2027 and then extend the line further to Osaka by 2037. Once completed, the new line would reduce travel time from Tokyo to Osaka to about an hour compared with the current 2? hours via bullet train.
Earlier this year, JR Central had said it could no longer complete the Tokyo-Nagoya portion, which was approved by the transport ministry in 2014, by its planned 2027 deadline due to opposition from Shizuoka Prefecture. This sparked skepticism on the prospects of the train line¡¯s completion by 2037.
??A portion of the maglev line is supposed to cross through a tunnel in the northern part of Shizuoka, but the plan was met with opposition from the prefecture¡¯s former governor, Heita Kawakatsu, and his supporters, who cited environmental concerns regarding a local riverbed that is crucial for agricultural irrigation.
Among the eight governors at Friday¡¯s meeting was newly elected Shizuoka Gov. Yasutomo Suzuki, who takes a positive stance on the maglev line¡¯s construction. He said that he will proceed with the project after properly addressing existing environmental concerns.
In less than two weeks since taking office, Suzuki has met with JR Central¡¯s Niwa and transport minister Tetsuo Saito in the hopes of keeping close communication on the maglev project.
¡°From Shizuoka Prefecture¡¯s standpoint, I believe that everyone understands the need to balance the promotion of the project with the conservation of water and environment,¡± Suzuki told reporters at a post-meeting briefing on Friday.
¡°Moving forward, I¡¯d like to promote dialogue with JR Central with a sense of urgency,¡± he added.
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