Work on a new bullet-train section began Saturday in Nagasaki Prefecture.

The 21-km Isahaya-Nagasaki stretch will eventually connect to the 45-km Takeo Onsen-Isahaya segment currently under construction, with combined services expected to start around the end of fiscal 2021.

A groundbreaking ceremony in the city of Nagasaki was attended by transport minister Yuichiro Hata and the governors of Nagasaki and Saga prefectures.

The Isahaya-Nagasaki project is one of three new shinkansen sections approved for construction in June. The other two — the 211-km Hakodate-Sapporo stretch in Hokkaido and the 113-km Kanazawa-Tsuruga section in central Honshu — will also start soon.