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The City of Nagoya has released a summary of the current status of urban development around Nagoya Station in preparation for the opening of the Linear Central Shinkansen Line (between Shinagawa and Nagoya). The report shows the FY2021 budget and future plans for major related projects, such as the development of the station plazas on the east (Sakuradori Exit) and west (Taikoo Exit) sides of the station, access improvements to the Sasashima Live 24 and Meieki South districts, and the study of a new surface transportation system (SRT).　

In FY2021, the city will spend 1.247 billion yen for the study, design and construction of the redevelopment of the plaza in front of the station, 26 million yen for the study of the comprehensive development of the area around the station, and 26.34 million yen for the improvement of access to the Sasashima Live 24 and Meieki South districts. 26.34 million yen for improving access to the Sasashima Live 24 area and Meieki South area, 2,993.57 million yen for the development of the Sasashima Live 24 area, 12 million yen for studying urban development using local resources such as the Yanagibashi area, and 15 million yen for studying SRT.

Source: Summary of Japanese Media report: https://www.kensetsunews.com/archives/587675 Accessed July 4,2021.

Source: https://www.kensetsunews.com/PB5001H/wp ... _95624.jpg

　In the east side area, the existing monument "Flying" will be dismantled and reconstructed in the Sasashima Live 24 area. After that, the plaza will be expanded to the location of the flying monument and the rotary intersection will be improved. The transit space will also be redeveloped.
　In the west area, the pedestrian space will be widened to create a space suitable for the entrance of the linear line, and the layout of the SRT boarding and waiting area will be studied.
　In the upper space of the east and west areas of the station, plazas with disaster prevention functions (about 5,000 m2 in the east area and about 7,000 m2 in the west area) will be built.

Source: https://www.kensetsunews.com/archives/587675
Accessed: July 5, 2021

On April 24, the City of Nagoya announced that it had selected Takashi Yonezawa Architects & Engineers (Showa Ward, Nagoya City) through a public proposal process as the contractor for the design study and basic design of the plaza in front of Nagoya Station on the west side of the station when the Linear Central Shinkansen line opens in 2027.
　The project includes the current plaza and the cab stand on the south side, totaling 8,000 square meters. According to their proposal, the corridor connecting the station's Taikodori exit and the plaza will be widened from the current width of 2 meters to 10 meters to secure traffic flow. A handicapped-accessible cab stand will be installed at the cab stand, and a cloud-shaped roof will be placed on the plaza, the size and shape of which can be easily changed according to the actual design. Based on the proposal, the city will discuss with the office, JR Tokai, and the underground shopping mall operators and proceed with the concrete design.

Info based on Japanese Media: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/335764 Accessed 2021-09-24.
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Photo: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/335764 Accessed 2021-09-24.

Expectations for the Nagoya maglev station
リニア駅着々期待感
2021/09/25 05:00 by Hiroki Sano

Source: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/chubu/f ... YTAT50026/ Accessed: 2021-09-24

Summary of the article, translated:

　The east side of Nagoya Station, where buildings stand in a forest, has become conspicuously clear. Demolition of buildings can be seen. Preparations are steadily underway for the construction of Nagoya Station on the Central Linear Shinkansen Line.

　Nagoya Station will be constructed by digging about 30 meters below ground level and 900 meters in length. According to JR Tokai, more than 90% of the land in the area has been contracted on a case-by-case basis. In the conventional line area, the company has finished laying the construction girders for excavation while continuing commercial operation.

　More than 80% of the construction contracts between Nagoya and Shinagawa were completed on a distance basis. More than 70% of the total amount of soil left over from the construction has been utilized. Construction girders have been laid in the conventional railway area of JR Nagoya Station in preparation for the construction of the platform for the Nagoya Linear Railway.

　In November last year, Nagoya Railways announced that it would postpone for about three years its plan to build a huge building at Nagoya Station, 400 meters long from north to south, to coincide with the opening of the linear railway line. The Meitetsu Department Store's main store and Kintetsu Pass'e, which were about to be demolished, will continue to operate for the time being, and have decided to boost their sales areas with large-scale renovations.

　In the standard land price survey released on March 21, buildings in the Meieki area showed a sharp increase of 10.2%, a reversal of last year's 5.2% decline, which was affected by the Corona disaster. Mr. Hiroshi Komori, a real estate appraiser, said, "The increase was due to the fact that the impact of the postponement of the Linear line has been factored in. There is a strong sense of expectation in the market for the realization of the linear railway as a national project.

Source: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/chubu/f ... YTAT50026/ Accessed: 2021-09-24

Clearing Land in the Building District around Nagoya Station

Buildings to be Removed for Linear Construction


In the vicinity of Nagoya Station, buildings are being demolished one after another and vacant lots are becoming more prominent. Looking over the area from above, it looks like a valley is forming between the buildings. About 30 meters underground, a station for the Linear Central Shinkansen will be built. The construction of the terminal is progressing smoothly, although the scheduled opening in 2027 will inevitably be postponed due to the lack of prospects for starting construction in Shizuoka Prefecture.

According to the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), the Nagoya station will be about one kilometer long and will run east-west directly underneath the conventional and Shinkansen stations.

Source: Nikkei Japan (translated): https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO79 ... 2A1L91000/ Accessed: 2022-01-31

リニア名古屋駅の工事現場を報道陣に公開
Construction site of Nagoya Linear Station opened to the press.

The Linear Central Shinkansen Line, which will connect Tokyo's Shinagawa Station and Nagoya Station in 40 minutes, will have a new station 30 meters underground from the current Nagoya Station, where the Linear trains will stop.

On April 13th, the construction site of Nagoya Station was opened to the press, where workers were using cranes to carry away concrete that had been scraped from underground, and excavating the ground with machinery to build a "protective wall" to protect the underground station from landslides and other damage.

According to JR Tokai, about 60 workers are working in shifts per day on the Nagoya Station construction. Junji Sekido, General Manager of JR Tokai's Nagoya Construction Department, said, "We have opened the site to the public because we have started full-scale civil engineering work in a prime location in the heart of the city. We would like to proceed with the construction work while placing importance on safety and cooperation with the local community.

Info is based on a translated NHK report, from Japanese: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/tokai-news/20220 ... 21989.html Accessed: 2022-04-13

Preparation work is progressing...

On April 13th, the site of the "east construction section" of Nagoya Station on the Linear Central Shinkansen Line, which is under construction, was opened to the public for the first time. The public was able to see the 180-meter-long east section of the Linear Nagoya Station, construction of which began in 2016.

　At the site, the underground portion of the office building that used to stand here is being removed, and preparatory work is underway to build a full-scale underground wall.

Source: https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/346907 Accessed 2022-04-14

名古屋駅の地下深くへ､進む｢リニア駅｣巨大工事
Huge construction of "Linear Station" going on, deep underground at Nagoya Station.

Linear Nagoya Station is an underground station. It will be set up so that it crosses Nagoya Station for both Shinkansen and conventional lines. The Sakura-dori Exit, where high-rise buildings stand in front of the station, will be directly below the JR Gate Tower, while the Taikodori Exit on the opposite side will connect to the north side of Bic Camera. A huge underground space 30 to 40 meters below the surface of the ground will be created, and two island-type platforms with four lines will be installed there. The platforms will be approximately 400 m long, and with the addition of upper and lower crossings and other facilities, the station will be 860 m long and up to 60 m wide.

In Shinagawa and Nagoya stations, the open-cut method is used to excavate from the ground surface. Construction will be carefully carried out so as not to interfere with the safe running of conventional and Shinkansen trains.

The Dainagoya Building, one of the tallest buildings in front of Nagoya Station, rises in the immediate vicinity of the east construction zone. The surrounding area is a very prestigious location. JR Tokai will purchase the site, demolish the above-ground buildings, and remove the underground structures that will interfere with the construction work. After the completion of the linear line, evacuation and ventilation facilities will be installed on the cleared land above ground. Nagoya city has a plan to use the site as a plaza.

JR Tokai has no experience in land acquisition for new line construction. Therefore, it entrusted the Nagoya Machizukuri Public Corporation with site acquisition negotiations in the Nagoya Station area. The corporation dispatched prefectural and city officials with expertise to negotiate with the landowners. However, negotiations with the landowner of the large building proved difficult. In normal site negotiations, landowners look for relocation sites on their own, but it is not easy for the landowner of a large building in front of a station to find a good location that is at the same level as the current site.


Source: Excerpts from https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/584062 Accessed: 2022-04-25

　The City of Nagoya has announced a plan to build a new concourse connecting the east and west sides of Nagoya Station in anticipation of the opening of the Linear Central Shinkansen Line.

　At a plenary session of the city council on August 28, the city government announced its policy to establish a new concourse connecting east and west at Nagoya Station to ease congestion caused by the opening of the Linear Central Shinkansen Line.

　The new concourse will be a 9-meter-wide passageway connecting the Aonami Line ticket gates on the west side of Nagoya Station and the JR Hirokoji Exit on the east side, which the city plans to complete after the opening of the Linear Central Shinkansen. The related project cost is estimated to be in the 25 to 35 billion yen range.

　In response to questions about the lack of pedestrian crossings along a 600-meter section from the Sasajima intersection to the Meieki Minami 4-chome intersection in the vicinity of Nagoya Station, the city government has announced that it plans to coordinate with Aichi Prefectural Police and other authorities to install pedestrian crossings.

Info based on https://www.tokai-tv.com/tokainews/arti ... 1128_23450 Accessed: 2022-11-28
The blue line is the planned Maglev Tunnel with the Nagoya Maglev station.


Info based on https://www.tokai-tv.com/tokainews/arti ... 1128_23450 Accessed: 2022-11-28

Expectations for the Linear Central Shinkansen have pushed up land prices in Nagoya.

　In 2015, the year after construction was approved by the government, land prices on the east side of Nagoya Station rose 45.7% from the previous year, ranking first among commercial areas nationwide.

　Last year, a building in Meieki Minami, Nakamura-ku, in the same city, rose 12.3% in standard land prices, ranking first in the Nagoya area for commercial land appreciation. Hiroshi Komori, a real estate appraiser, analyzes that "demand is expanding from the central area to the more undervalued peripheral areas.

Source: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/chubu/f ... YTAT50059/ Accessed 2023-01-15

Meichika" shopping Mall, crowded with many people in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya City expected to reopen in FY26

　Meichika, an underground shopping mall at the east exit of Nagoya Station, will cease operations at the end of March. This is due to the need to upgrade the air conditioning system of the underground shopping center in conjunction with the redevelopment of the station plaza above ground in preparation for the opening of the Linear Central Shinkansen Line.

　According to the Nagoya Transportation Development Organization, which manages Meichika, it opened in 1957 to coincide with the opening of the Higashiyama Line of the Nagoya Municipal Subway between Nagoya and Sakae-machi (now Sakae). About 20 stores line the 3,000-square-meter site, including the coffee shop Compal, known for its fried shrimp sandwiches, and the long-established Japanese confectionery store Ryoguchiya Korekiyo.

　The ceiling, flooring, and facilities in the underground mall are deteriorating, and these will be renovated during the closure; when the mall reopens in FY26, the organization will solicit and select new stores to be housed in Meichika.

Info based on Japanese News: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/chubu/n ... YTNT50001/ Accessed: 2023-02-05

Nagoya Station Redevelopment Driven by Maglev Opening

With the upcoming launch of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen (Maglev bullet train) by JR Central, Nagoya Station is undergoing a large-scale redevelopment to transform it into a modern “super terminal.” The goal is to improve connectivity, passenger convenience, and regional economic activity.
Key Developments:

Linear Maglev Connection: Nagoya will be a major stop on the Linear Chuo Shinkansen, which aims to connect Tokyo and Nagoya in about 40 minutes, drastically reducing travel time. This has prompted public and private investment into the station area.

Improved Passenger Flow: Currently, the station is known as a "maze" due to poor signage and only one main east-west corridor. Plans include:

• New passageways to ease congestion.

• A central “Terminal Square” improving transfers between JR, Meitetsu, subway, and bus lines using more direct, linear routes.

Infrastructure Expansion:

• Pedestrian spaces will be expanded to more than double the current size (~14,000 m²).

• A redesigned plaza in front of the station will create better visibility and access to the city.

• New underground passage to connect Nagoya Station and the Sasashima Live 24 district (due ~FY2032), including moving walkways.

Private Sector Projects:

• Meitetsu (Nagoya Railroad) plans to build two ~170-meter-high skyscrapers with shops, offices, and hotels.

• A new airport-bound train platform will be constructed at Meitetsu Nagoya Station to improve access to Chubu Centrair International Airport.

Strategic Vision:

The Linear Chuo Shinkansen is viewed as a catalyst for revitalizing Nagoya’s urban core. Economic leaders emphasize promoting the region’s cultural and culinary assets to draw people into this newly connected urban zone.

Info based on https://newswitch.jp/p/45596 Accessed 2025-05-08

“Only Kameyama Offers 20-Minute Access to Two Major Metropolitan Areas” —
Professor Eguchi of Nagoya Gakuin University Gives Lecture on the Maglev Project


On July 1, the Kameyama Citizens' Council for the Promotion of the Maglev Chuo Shinkansen and JR Double-Track Electrification held its general meeting and a lecture at the city’s cultural hall. During the lecture, Professor Shinobu Eguchi of Nagoya Gakuin University spoke about urban development strategies using the maglev (Chuo Shinkansen), stating:
“Among all the intermediate stations, Kameyama is the only one with 20-minute access to two major metropolitan areas.”
He emphasized the need to leverage this unique advantage for the city’s growth.

Source: https://biz.chunichi.co.jp/news/article/10/109609/6/
Accessed July 6, 2025

名古屋駅西地区に地下駐輪場など整備を　リニア開業遅れでまちづくり停滞懸念、名工大院生や地元住民ら市長に要望
Request Submitted to Nagoya Mayor for Urban Development on the West Side of Nagoya Station Amid Maglev Delay Concerns

Overview

On September 8, representatives from the Makino District Administrative Cooperation Committee (located in Nakamura Ward, Nagoya City) and graduate students from Nagoya Institute of Technology submitted a formal request to Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa. The request outlines proposed urban development initiatives for the west side of Nagoya Station, with a focus on mitigating stagnation concerns arising from the delay in the opening of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen (Maglev).

Key Proposals

In anticipation of the Maglev line’s eventual launch, the proposal emphasizes the following revitalization measures:

• Development of underground bicycle parking facilities

• Improvement of local waste management

• Implementation of greening and landscaping efforts

• General promotion of community vitality and urban renewal

Background

The Makino District Committee regularly submits proposals to the city aimed at revitalizing the Nagoya Station West area. However, with the Maglev line’s opening now delayed beyond its originally scheduled launch in 2027, concerns have arisen regarding potential stagnation in urban development efforts.

To address this, the committee collaborated with younger generations by partnering with Nagoya Institute of Technology. Over a six-month period, five graduate students from the lab of Associate Professor Yoshinori Natsume (Architecture Planning) developed a comprehensive set of proposals focused on sustainable and community-driven revitalization.

Next Steps

On September 8, the student group and local representatives visited City Hall to deliver the proposal in person. Discussions are expected to continue as the city reviews potential interim development projects in anticipation of the delayed Maglev opening.

Info based on: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/1129643 Accessed 2025-09-08

名古屋駅西、遊ぶ街から住む街へ　リニア需要で中駒産業などビル開発
Nagoya Station’s West Side Transforms from Entertainment Hub to Residential District

With the upcoming opening of the Linear Chuo Shinkansen (maglev line), redevelopment is expanding to the west side of Nagoya Station. Real estate management company Nakakoma Sangyo (based in Nagoya) plans to build two buildings—an office building and a rental apartment complex—within walking distance of the new maglev station. Most of the land has already been acquired, and completion is targeted for 2028.

The surrounding area, once a bustling entertainment district, is seeing land prices surge amid redevelopment expectations. Major developers are also joining in, driving new residential and commercial building projects ahead of the maglev line’s launch.

Info based on: https://www.nikkei.com/nkd/industry/art ... 11C2000000 Accessed 2025-10-19

Nagoya Maglev Station redevelopment delayed again

Nagoya Station “Maglev-Era” Redevelopment Stalls as Costs Surge and Contractors Walk Away


Darkening prospects are emerging for a major Nagoya Station-area redevelopment planned around the future Chuo Shinkansen maglev launch. The Meitetsu-led project—two high-rise towers and a major rebuild of Meitetsu Nagoya Station—no longer has a firm start date; the previously targeted FY2027 start is now undecided.

A central trigger is a three–general-contractor consortium opting out of the competitive bid, citing difficulty securing personnel amid Japan’s construction labor shortage and sharply rising costs. Meitetsu’s president publicly expressed regret at an emergency news conference in December as the company announced another postponement.

The schedule has already slipped multiple times: construction was originally to begin in FY2022, then was delayed due to COVID-19. A revised plan announced last March set demolition for FY2026 and construction for FY2027, but that timeline is now in limbo.

The redevelopment site currently includes the Meitetsu Department Store main building, a group hotel, and a bus terminal. Plans call for demolishing these and building two ~170-meter towers with offices, a hotel, and retail space, while overhauling the underground station terminal by moving to a four-track layout.

Meitetsu’s total investment was expected to be about ¥888 billion, with roughly ¥540 billion allocated to work beyond the station and bus terminal. Phase 1 had been slated to finish in FY2033, with full completion targeted for the early 2040s. Informed sources indicate the contractors’ cost estimate submitted around the withdrawal point was nearly double initial expectations.

The delay also reflects growing uncertainty around the maglev itself. The Shinagawa–Nagoya opening has slipped from 2027 to at least 2036 due to continued delays, including the unstarted Shizuoka segment. JR Central has also revised the Shinagawa–Nagoya cost estimate to ¥11 trillion, roughly double earlier projections, driven by higher material and labor costs.

Locally, enthusiasm is cooling. Some major landowners argue the redevelopment scale may exceed near-term tenant demand and that a plan better aligned with local market realities would be preferable. Meitetsu says it will present a new policy during FY2026 (ending March 2027), while Aichi’s governor has urged a thorough rework and restart of the business plan.

Meanwhile, the Meitetsu Department Store’s main outlet closed at the end of February as scheduled, ending a 71-year run. The group’s hotel and bus terminal remain operating for now.

Info based on Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/ ... ent-delay/ Accessed 2026-03-20