Groundbreaking took place in September 1991 on three new sections of Japan's
five New Shinkansen Lines between: Morioka - Aomori (Tohoku route), Karuizawa
-Nagano (Hokuriku route) and Yatsushiro - Nishi-Kagoshima (Kagoshima route),
in addition to Takasaki - Karuizawa (Hokuriku route) which was already under
construction. The five lines include one in Hokkaido, one in Tohoku (Morioka
- Aomori), one in Hokiruku, and two in Kyushu (Kagoshima Route and Nagasaki
Route).
The Railway Development Fund was established on October 1, 1991 for comprehensive
and effective funding of railways development. It aims to form a high-speed
railway network to promote balanced national development and establish a urban
rail network to maintain and promote the functions of large cities.
The Fund is financed part of income of transfer already operating Shinkansen
lines and subsidies coming thusfar from the national general account. Grants
are made as follows:
(1) Grants and non-interest loans (NTT-B) for the construction of New Shinkansen
lines
(2) Grants and non-interest loans for activation of inportant trunk rail lines
and development of urban railway
(3) Grants for the Yamanashi experimental linear railway
(4) Grants for small- and medium-sized regional private railways
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