January 31, 2013

Civic groups of Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, have waged a signature-collecting campaign opposing the planned construction of a maglev railway (Chuo Shinkansen). The municipal authority plans to invite the construction of an intermediate station of the train line in the city.

Members of a network of these groups launched the campaign in November 2012. They conducted the tenth petition drive on January 26 in front of Hashimoto Station in the city, which is to be converted into the intermediate station.

A woman, 64, who signed the petition and asked for five sheets of the petition paper for collecting signatures by herself, said, “Is it necessary to destroy the rich greenery and build a linear motor train line? The existing Tokaido Shinkansen line is sufficient to transport passengers.” She added, “The construction project is being promoted without informing the general public about its problems. That arrogance reminds me of Japan’s nuclear policy. It would be too late to regret making the wrong decision if an accident happened.”

Another woman, 58, said after signing, “I wonder if the ‘second Shinkansen’ is needed when the Japanese population is expected to decline. I’m also worried about the possible negative effects of electromagnetic waves on the human body.”

A maglev train runs at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour by using a levitation and propulsion system based on superconducting magnets. Its electricity consumption is three times that of a Shinkansen bullet train.

The Transport Minister designated JR Central as the project operator in May 2011. The company intends to start the construction as early as next year, aiming at opening the railroad service between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027, Tokyo and Osaka in 2045. According to the plan, about 80% of the railway is composed of tunnels, and the building cost runs to more than 9 trillion yen.

JR Central has explained to local residents the necessity of the linear motor line along with the Tokaido Shinkansen in case of disasters.

Nakanowatari Jun, a secretary general of the network said, “The number of people who use the Tokaido Shinkansen has leveled off during the last 20 years. Taking into consideration an expected decrease in population due to the declining birthrate, there is no need for reinforcing transportation capacity by pumping a lot of public money into doing so. If they want to talk about measures for dealing with disasters, they should incorporate earthquake countermeasures for the present railroad system as soon as possible.”


Related past article
> JCP Shii calls for halt to construction of maglev Shinkansen system [May 18, 2012]
> Citizens point out excessive power-consuming linear motor Shinkansen plan is ‘outdated' [April 25, 2012]
> Residents demand reconsideration of plan to build linear motor Shinkansen [April 13, 2012]