The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japan's maglev train line got a huge boost Tuesday, as the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture formally announced he would allow work to start on the Shizuoka section of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen, where construction has not yet begun.

With the governor's approval, construction will now proceed across all sections of the line.

The Shizuoka section, which is about 8.9 kilometers, is the only portion where construction has not started on the roughly 286-kilometer-long route between Tokyo's Shinagawa Station and Nagoya Station. Central Japan Railway Co. is likely to begin work on the section as early as this summer.

The prefecture will soon conclude an agreement with the company based on the prefecture's environmental conservation ordinance, a precondition for starting construction. "The prefecture's residents and local governments in the river basin have shown a steadily increasing understanding (for the project), and so I have decided that we are at the stage where we can conclude this agreement," Shizuoka Gov. Yasutomo Suzuki told the prefectural assembly on Tuesday.

The maglev line will connect Shinagawa and Nagoya in as little as 40 minutes. Although the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry approved a plan for building the maglev in 2014, construction on the Shizuoka section was stalled for nearly 10 years because former Gov. Heita Kawakatsu refused to approve it, as he said that tunnel excavation work would reduce water flow in the Oi River, which runs through central Shizuoka Prefecture.

Located in a mountainous area, the Shizuoka section is regarded as the most challenging part of the maglev project, with construction expected to take more than 10 years. Central Japan Railway has already abandoned its initial plan to open the maglev line in 2027. President Shunsuke Niwa has said he will announce a new opening date after construction begins on the Shizuoka section.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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