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The is a Japanese high-speed railway line between the Japanese cities of Fukuoka (Hakata) and Kagoshima in Kyushu (and an extension of the Sanyo Shinkansen from Honshu), running parallel to the existing Kagoshima Main Line and operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). The southern was constructed first because the equivalent section of the former Kagoshima Main Line is single track, and thus a significant improvement in transit time was gained when this (dual track) section opened on 13 March 2004, despite the need for passengers to change to a Relay Tsubame narrow gauge train at Shin-Yatsushiro for the remainder of the journey to Hakata. The northern section opened on 12 March 2011 (although opening ceremonies were canceled due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami), enabling through-services to Shin-Osaka (and with a change of train, Tokyo).〔()〕 The construction of the first section (from Takeo-Onsen to Isahaya) of the West Kyushu Shinkansen route to Nagasaki, approximately in length, began in 2008, with construction of the section from Isahaya to Nagasaki commencing in 2012. The entire line is due to open by March 2023,〔() 〕 with the service proposed to be provided by Gauge Change Train (GCT) trainsets which will be able to run on the existing narrow gauge line between Shin-Tosu and Takeo-Onsen as well as on the standard gauge Shinkansen lines either side of this section. ==Kagoshima Route== Construction of the began in 1991, and the first segment between Kagoshima and Shin-Yatsushiro opened on 13 March 2004. This initial section cut travel times between the two cities from 130 minutes to 35 minutes, and reduced the time between Hakata and Kagoshima from 4 hours to just 2 hours. When the entire line was completed, the travel time from Hakata to Kagoshima was further reduced to about an hour and 20 minutes. Like all Shinkansen lines, the Kyushu Shinkansen is standard gauge. The line's ''Sakura'' and ''Mizuho'' services operate through to Shin-Osaka Station via the Sanyō Shinkansen. In September 2011, six months after the line's completion, JR Kyushu reported a year-over-year increase in ridership of 64 percent to the southern part of Kyushu (between Kumamoto and Kagoshima), easily surpassing the 40 percent increase projected by the company. By the one-year anniversary, ridership had increased, mainly from tourists from Kansai and Chugoku.〔Kyodo News, "(Shinkansen spurs Kyushu business )", ''Japan Times'', 13 March 2012, p. 2.〕 However, in northern Kyushu, where there is fierce competition with conventional JR rapid service, the private Nishi-Nippon Railroad, and expressway buses, Shinkansen ridership increased by only 38 percent (compared to the now-discontinued conventional express ''Relay Tsubame''), falling short of estimates. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kyushu Shinkansen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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