Japan revolutionised train travel, but delays plague ambitious new projects

Plans for world’s fastest service have run into issues such as geological challenges

- Walter Sim

Japan's ambitious plans to debut the world's fastest train service by 2027 have hit a snag, with the project at least seven years behind schedule.

On March 29, it was announced that the first phase of the maglev, or the Linear Chuo Shinkansen, connecting Shinagawa in Tokyo to Nagoya was drastically behind schedule. The service would cut travel time between the two places to 40 minutes, down from ihr 26min via the bullet train.

Japan's magnetic levitation - or maglev - train runs on superconductivity and has top test speeds of 603kmh, though it will operate at a maximum 500kmh. This makes it faster than the current record holder, the Shanghai maglev service that has top test speeds of 431kmh.

But Japan is facing setbacks in its battle for rail supremacy with China, amid domestic political opposition, environmental activism, geological challenges, labour shortages and rising construction costs.

A spate of delays have plagued Japan's high-speed rail projects.

Besides the maglev, a planned 212km extension by 2030 of the Hokkaido Shinkansen service to Sapporo from the current terminus in Hakodate, via the booming ski town of Niseko, is at least four years behind schedule.

A 125km extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen route from Kanazawa in Ishikawa prefecture to Tsuruga in neighbouring Fukui prefecture opened in March 2024 - a year behind schedule.

But these delays should not be seen as an indictment of Japan's ability to deliver projects on time, said transport policy expert Shigeru Morichi, professor emeritus at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. He noted that there were complex factors like geological challenges, which are usually beyond the control of rail operators and the government.