Maglev slated for early 2010s start

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) hopes to start building a magnetic levitation train system linking Tokyo and Nagoya by the first half of the 2010s to meet its plan to launch the service in 2025, the carrier's president said.

"Given that it will take at least 10 years (for the train system) to be completed, we need to get started (on construction) as soon as possible," JR Tokai President Masayuki Matsumoto said Wednesday.

JR Tokai needs to choose a route before the start of construction. In October, the railway submitted a report to the transport ministry saying all three routes proposed for the construction of the maglev train system between Tokyo and Nagoya are feasible on the basis of terrain and geology.

JR Tokai is seeking a tunnel route running through the Southern Alps, connecting the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Chubu region in an almost straight line.