The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has announced a draft plan to build a new subway line connecting the city center with waterfront areas of the Japanese capital.
Seven stations will be built for the new subway line, which will start at Tokyo Station, according to the draft plan announced Friday.
The subway line is aimed at meeting transport demand linked to the growing population in the waterfront areas, which have seen a surge in the development of numerous high-rise condominiums before and after the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.
The metropolitan government aims to open the new subway line by 2040. Some ¥420 billion to ¥510 billion is expected to be spent on the project.
"The waterfront areas have potential to draw people and investment from all over the world," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told a news conference Friday. "We'll promote consideration further for the early opening of the line."
The 6.1-kilometer line would run near redevelopment areas where the Tsukiji wholesale fish market and the Tokyo Games' athletes' village were located.
It may be connected in the future to the Tsukuba Express line, which is expected to be extended to Tokyo Station, and a planned East Japan Railway Co. line between the city center and Tokyo's Haneda International Airport.