Shinagawa to be starting point for Tokyo-Nagoya maglev bullet trains+

NAGOYA, Aug. 8 Kyodo -
Central Japan Railway Co. plans to designate Tokyo's Shinagawa Station as the
starting point for a new maglev bullet-train line that it aims to launch in
2027 between Tokyo and Nagoya, industry sources said Sunday.
As part of a plan to fully open the maglev shinkansen line between Tokyo and
Osaka in 2045, Shinagawa was chosen over Tokyo Station in light of access to
Tokyo's Haneda airport and the lack of space for a large new station facility
at Tokyo Station, which is already the hub of many JR and subway lines, the
sources said.
The station for the maglev service will be built underground, with the company
considering plans that include digging a 1 kilometer-long tunnel dozens of
meters below ground, they said.
With construction costs of around 5.1 trillion yen, the new line will enable
passengers to travel between Tokyo and Nagoya in about 40 minutes,
significantly faster than the roughly 100 minutes it currently takes by
shinkansen bullet train.
The company is also considering redesigning Nagoya Station to enable passengers
to get to the shinkansen platform in about 10 minutes if the maglev service is
suspended, and could apply the same idea to Shinagawa Station.
JR Tokai said in April it was delaying the launch of the Tokyo-Nagoya line by
two years from the initial target of 2025 due to a decline in revenues from its
mainstay Tokaido Shinkansen services.
==Kyodo
2010-08-08 21:44:42