Kansai Airport Station 5.38

is a railway station shared by Nankai Electric Railway and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) at Kansai International Airport in Tajiri, Sennan District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The northern end of the platforms extends into the city of Izumisano.LayoutThis station has two island platforms, serving two tracks for each company.PlatformsNankai "Rapi:t" airport limited express trains depart mainly from Track 1.HistoryThe station opened on June 15, 1994, two and a half months before the opening of the airport. During this initial period, the station was open to the public; however only airport employees and related personnel were allowed to leave the station concourse (a similar situation to Umi-Shibaura Station in Tokyo).Since the mid-2000s, there have been plans to link Kansai Airport Station and central Osaka by a new underground railway line tentatively called the Naniwasuji Line, which would run between Namba and Shin-Osaka. In 2010, government calculations indicated that the new line would reduce travel time from Umeda to Kansai Airport to as little as 41 minutes, versus the current 56–68 minutes. The station is also one of the proposed terminals for the Hokuriku Shinkansen high-speed rail line.