The government plans to delay its plan to extend the Hokkaido Shinkansen Line, Japan’s northernmost bullet train route, to Sapporo by eight years to March 2039, partly due to tunnel construction difficulties, a source close to the matter said Saturday.
File photo taken in April 2024 shows a Hokkaido Shinkansen Line bullet train arriving at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station in Hokuto, Hokkaido. (Kyodo)
The 212-kilometer extension between Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto in southern Hokkaido and Sapporo, the island’s capital, has been complicated by a labor shortage in the construction sector and geological challenges, including massive rock formations and soft ground that are hindering tunnel work, the source said.
Tunnels account for about 80 percent of the extended segment, which will pass through areas home to the famed Niseko ski resort.
The current plan is to complete the project in the spring of 2031.
The government approved it in 2012, with the cost estimated at 1.67 trillion yen ($11.3 billion), but the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in December 2022 revised the estimate to around 2.3 trillion yen due mainly to higher material costs.
The Hokkaido Shinkansen, which provides a direct rail link between Tokyo and the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands via the undersea Seikan Tunnel, opened on March 26, 2016.
Related coverage:
Disney-themed shinkansen bullet train shown ahead of launch
Japan bullet train cars decouple, 2nd time in less than 6 months
Japan’s “ekiben” boxed meals for train travelers rolled out in Zurich
AloJapan.com