Central Japan Railway Co. said Friday it has given up its plan to launch a new high-speed maglev train between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027, amid long-running environmental opposition in Shizuoka Prefecture.

"While we cannot predict the new opening date at this point, we will continue to aim to launch it as soon as possible," the company said in a document released ahead of a meeting of experts at the transport ministry.

The Linear Chuo Shinkansen project is intended to link Tokyo and Osaka with trains traveling up to 500 kilometers per hour. But a small area on the section between the capital and Nagoya has proved a stumbling block for the project, due mostly to opposition by the central prefecture of Shizuoka.

Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu declined to comment on JR Central's confirmation it has abandoned the original opening date, telling reporters he has "yet to receive notification" of the decision.

Kawakatsu has cited environmental impact concerns in opposing the project, which requires extensive tunnels for the vast majority of its 286-km route to Nagoya. Construction of the around 8.9 km of tunnels through Shizuoka Prefecture has yet to begin.

The document from JR Central cites the inability for construction to begin in the Shizuoka section as the "direct cause" for the delay in completing the Nagoya leg. It also says that around six years and four months have passed since contracts for construction were signed.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the government will continue to move ahead "to facilitate an early opening."

In December, JR Central revised its opening date to 2027 or later, but maintained it was not the case that it had abandoned delivery by the target year or delayed the project.

The high-speed rail line was intended to be rolled out in two phases, with the Nagoya leg set for 2027 and the Osaka extension in 2037.

Once completed, the project is expected to link Tokyo and Nagoya in as little as 40 minutes, and shorten the travel time between the capital and Osaka to just 67 minutes -- under half the fastest times on existing shinkansen bullet trains.

JR Central has said the new line could bring about economic benefits from faster transit times, and serve as a vital backup between the country's three major metropolises in the event of major disasters such as powerful earthquakes involving potential tsunami.

==Kyodo

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