On Mar. 8, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism revealed that the relay-style West Kyushu Route of the Kyushu Shinkansen (aka the Nagasaki Shinkansen) slated to go into operation in fiscal 2022 would enable connections between Hakata and Nagasaki in as little as 1 hour and 26 minutes. This translates into a 26-minute improvement over the current express rail service, but would only be six minutes slower than the free-gauge train (FGT) slated to go into service in or around spring 2025. The relay-style route would rely on current express trains between Hakata and Takeo Onsen (Saga Prefecture), where riders would switch to a dedicated Shinkansen to Nagasaki on the same platform. The national government, Nagasaki Prefecture, local municipalities and JR Kyushu will now begin discussing the how to split the bill for the relay-style route. Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, 3/9
