KYOTO –
The route dispute surrounding the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Osaka has been thrown again into uncertainty, with the long-discussed “Obama-Kyoto Route” successfully returned to sq. one as ruling coalition lawmakers contemplate eight different plans, together with a route by way of Maibara Station in Shiga Prefecture.
The Hokuriku Shinkansen was first outlined in 1972 in former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka’s influential guide “Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago,” printed the identical 12 months the Sanyo Shinkansen opened between Shin-Osaka and Okayama.
By 1985, Tanaka was already publicly describing a concrete route plan.
“This route has already been properly decided,” Tanaka, then 66, stated on the time. “From Nagano Prefecture to Toyama, 290 kilometers. Then from Toyama through Takaoka, Kanazawa, Tsuruga, Obama and on to Osaka for another 300 kilometers. No matter how late, Japan’s Shinkansen network should be completed within the 10 years from fiscal 1986 to fiscal 1995.”
Nearly 40 years after that speech, nonetheless, political wrangling over the route continues.
More than a decade in the past, the Hokuriku Shinkansen started operations between Tokyo and Kanazawa earlier than later extending to Tsuruga. The unresolved problem now could be how you can join the road onward to Osaka.
In 2016, the federal government chosen the “Obama-Kyoto Route,” which might cross by Obama City in Fukui Prefecture and Kyoto Station. However, after the Japan Innovation Party joined the ruling coalition framework, the plan was reopened, with eight route choices now into consideration, together with the “Maibara Route,” which might hyperlink the road to Maibara Station in Shiga Prefecture.
Seiji Maehara, co-chair of the ruling coalition’s Hokuriku Shinkansen growth committee and a member of the Japan Innovation Party, acknowledged the earlier determination however indicated the controversy had shifted.
“We fully understand that various discussions led to the selection of the Obama-Kyoto Route once before,” Maehara stated. “But in Kyoto, there are calls to halt the Obama-Kyoto Route and instead place the Maibara Route on the table.”
Opposition has additionally come from the Kyoto Buddhist Association, which argues that tunnel development may harm underground water programs and alter the historic metropolis irreversibly.
“We are not in a position to say which course is good or bad,” stated Yasutoshi Miyagi, senior govt director of the Kyoto Buddhist Association and head priest of Shogoin Temple. “But we oppose digging beneath Kyoto in ways that could change the city’s future.”
Construction prices have additionally develop into a serious concern. Initially estimated at round 2.1 trillion yen, projected prices have ballooned to as a lot as 5.3 trillion yen relying on the route chosen.
Amid rising consideration over which route could finally be chosen, the ruling coalition’s Hokuriku Shinkansen committee just lately held hearings with enterprise leaders within the Kansai area.
Shortly afterward, Maehara made remarks that additional deepened uncertainty surrounding the challenge.
“Without revising the cost-sharing ratio with the national government, we will not be able to reach a route decision,” Maehara stated. “There is even a possibility that every route may prove difficult.”
Although the Kansai Economic Federation expressed help for the Obama-Kyoto Route throughout the hearings, Maehara’s feedback have shaken the inspiration of years of prior discussions.
The authorities is aiming to determine on a closing route throughout the present Diet session, which runs by July seventeenth, after releasing cost-benefit analyses for all eight proposals. However, the end result stays removed from sure.
Source: YOMIURI