On October 31, Sakai City signed a basic agreement with Nankai Electric Railway on the construction of the Koya Line continuous decentralization project, dividing roles and project cost burdens. Work is underway in the area around Asakayama Station (Takasu-cho, Sakai Ward) and Sakai Higashi Station (Mikunigaoka Miyuki-dori Street in the same ward), including design, land survey, boundary determination between business land and private land as well as construction survey. Nankai Electric Railway Company is responsible for the design and Chuo Fukken Consulting is in charge of the work. Once the agreement is signed, preparatory work is expected to begin in 2024, including the installation of a temporary station building at Sakai Higashi Station. The goal is to begin operations in 2040. The city and stakeholders will also hold discussions on the redevelopment of facilities around the station and explore future plans.
Completed view of the west side of Sakai Higashi Station (from Sakai City website)
The project will raise the Koya Line from near the Yamato River (Tono-Ono-machi, in the same ward) to near the Osaka Chuo Loop Line (in Enomoto-machi, in the same ward). Length is about 3.2 km.
The new elevated structure will be built using the “direct elevated method,” using the area above the tracks near Sakai Higashi Station. The elevated section is about 1.3 km long.
The area near Asakayama Station is planned for development according to a “temporary route method” using adjacent land. The temporary road is about 1.7 km long.
The project was approved by the prefectural government on March 28, 2018, and includes the Nankai Koya Line, which will be integrated with surrounding streets (approx. 4.8 km), Asakayama Station Square, Asakayama Ekimae Line (approx. 0.1 km) and Chikko-Tenbi Line (about 0.1 km). About 0.3 km).
The plan is to eliminate 10 railway crossings to fundamentally eliminate traffic congestion and revitalize the city by unifying urban areas divided by the Koya Line.
In the future, commercialization of the Sakai Higashi Station Transportation Center (west and east) and the Mikunigaoka Line will be considered in the future.
