As an urban public transportation system, the subway serves a vital means of transportation in the lives of citizens, promotes regional development and the revitalization of cities, and creates a more replete urban infrastructure. Furthermore, because subways are built primarily beneath roads, they make effective use of land, produce little noise, and have no impact on the urban landscape, which is why they are being developed around the world as a system well-suited to creating appealing cities. However, subway construction requires long-term planning and large sums of money, and the current reality is that development has progressed slowly in individual cities in recent years due to rising construction costs.
This led to demand for a low-cost subway of the right scale to match transportation needs, which in turn has led to the development of the Linear Metro, which uses a linear motor drive system.
Subways in Japan have already been built and operated as the backbone of transportation in major cities, and further development will be implemented going forward. Meanwhile, in regional hub cities, traffic congestion in city centers has intensified with the rise in automobile traffic, and the environment has deteriorated due to noise and exhaust fumes; and while the introduction of public transportation has been studied as a solution, it has proven difficult to achieve due to such challenges as choosing a system, selecting a construction site, and securing construction funding.
The low-cost Linear Metro, which was researched and developed for practical implementation over three years starting in FY 1985, is the optimal system for use as a semi-main line or branch line in major cities and as a main line in regional hub cities.
In order to promote the construction of the linear motor-driven Linear Metro as public transportation in major cities and regional hub cities, the Japan Subway Association established the Linear Motor-Driven Subway Promotion Headquarters within the Association in October 1988 (renamed the Linear Metro Promotion Headquarters in May 1999), and has been conducting promotional activities not only in major cities but in cities considering the introduction of public transportation and those expected to do so in the future.