Press gets peek of JR Central’s excavation work site for maglev station in Sagamihara

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:43 JST, May 31, 2022

Central Japan Railway Co. held a press viewing for the first time of a building site for a station in Sagamihara on the under-construction Linear Chuo Shinkansen maglev line on Monday.

The station in Kanagawa Prefecture is one of the four new stations to be built along the line that will run between Shinagawa in Tokyo and Nagoya. Construction of the station’s main structure is scheduled to start from the end of fiscal 2022 and be completed in fiscal 2027.

The station is the first stop after Shinagawa Station and is located on the south side of JR Hashimoto Station in Midori Ward, Sagamihara. It is the only underground station between Shinagawa and Nagoya stations, and the platform will be located on the third basement level.

JR Central and the Sagamihara municipal government are discussing the development of the section of the station building that will be above ground.

Work on the station’s underground section started in 2019. Large-scale excavation work is underway down to about 17 meters below ground. Work will continue until it reaches about 30 meters underground. Three more stations are planned to be built along the line, one each in Yamanashi, Nagano and Gifu prefectures.

JR Central was planning to launch maglev train services between Shinagawa and Nagoya stations in 2027, but the schedule is likely to be postponed because the start of construction work for the stretch in Shizuoka Prefecture has been delayed.