Photo/Illutration A train for the Kyushu Shinkansen Line’s Nishi-Kyushu route starts trial operations in May in Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Ballooning costs, inconvenient access and a local feud are clouding the future of the Kyushu Shinkansen Line’s Nishi-Kyushu route that will partially open on Sept. 23.

The 66-kilometer course, the shortest bullet train line in Japan, will connect Nagasaki Station in Nagasaki Prefecture and Takeo-Onsen Station in Saga Prefecture.

Municipalities and businesses expect the service to revitalize local economies whose tourism industries have been pummeled by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We are maximizing the effects of the line’s opening to ensure it will be a great success,” Yoji Furumiya, president of Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu), said at an Aug. 22 news conference. “We will be drawing loads of visitors to Nagasaki and Saga prefectures.”

One huge problem is the cost of the project.

Expenses have reached 619.7 billion yen ($4.51 billion), an increase of more than 20 percent from the 500-billion-yen estimate in 2012, when the project was officially approved.

The transport ministry initially predicted the ratio of the line’s benefits to spending would be 1.1:1, but it declined to 0.5:1 in the ministry’s 2019 forecast largely because of the soaring cost.

The new Shinkansen route will cut 30 minutes off the time needed to travel from Hakata Station in Fukuoka Prefecture to Nagasaki to at least 80 minutes.

However, passengers will still need to rely on existing express trains between Takeo-Onsen Station and Hakata Station.

The new route will cost 5,520 yen for a non-reserved seat, up 460 yen.

Three new stations of Ureshino-Onsen, Shin-Omura and Isahaya will operate between Takeo-Onsen and Nagasaki on the new section.

A conventional line linking Isahaya Station with Hizen-Yamaguchi Station runs parallel to the new Shinkansen route. The conventional line’s facilities will be managed by the prefectural governments of Nagasaki and Saga with taxpayers’ money. JR-operated trains will travel along the tracks.

The new section of the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen track will not be directly connected with the Kyushu Shinkansen Line’s Kagoshima route, raising doubts about how far its ridership will rise.

Development of gauge-changeable carriages was planned to allow Shinkansen trains to run on narrower conventional tracks. But that plan was scrapped due to technical problems.

The technology could have made a 50-km track between Takeo-Onsen and Shin-Tosu in Saga Prefecture available for the Kyushu Shinkansen Line’s Nishi-Kyushu route.

The transport ministry wants to construct a Shinkansen track on this section as soon as possible, but there is no telling when such work can start because of opposition by Saga Prefecture.

The Saga prefectural government fears if the entire route between Hakata and Nagasaki is built in the Shinkansen format, many of the passengers will just pass through the prefecture, bringing fewer benefits to the local economy.

Another concern is that JR Kyushu may withdraw from operation of the parallel conventional lines or cut their express train services.

Saga Prefecture has protested “the broken agreement.”

In an Aug. 22 news conference, Saga Governor Yoshinori Yamaguchi insisted the Shinkansen route be brought into operation only after gauge-convertible trains are created.

When asked about the delayed construction of the route between Takeo-Onsen and Shin-Tosu, Yamaguchi expressed displeasure with the bullet train project, saying, “I cannot figure out the point.”

Nagasaki Governor Kengo Oishi, who attended the session, called for cooperation, saying he would like to see the route built in the Shinkansen format.

“The goal cannot be achieved with Nagasaki Prefecture’s efforts alone,” Oishi said. “By overcoming challenges together, we can make the plan a reality.”

Related News