Keihan Electric Railway, a major Osaka railway operator, said it will only be able to complete the extension of its Nakanoshima Line to Yumeshima Island several years after the opening of Japan’s first casino resort in 2030, according to Keihan Holdings President Yoshihiro Hirakawa.
This means the Osaka Metro Chuo Line will remain the only rail service providing direct access to Yumeshima Island for quite some time after the resort opens.
The extension project is designed to capitalize on the expected influx of visitors to the MGM Osaka integrated resort, currently under construction on the artificial island in Osaka Bay.
The expansion will extend the existing Nakanoshima Line, which currently operates between Temmabashi Station and Nakanoshima Station in Osaka, to Kujo Station on Osaka Metro’s Chuo Line.
According to local media outlet Japan Times, Hirakawa acknowledged that the extension will not be completed before the casino resort’s scheduled opening in autumn 2030. “We’d like to finish working out all details of the extension project before the IR opens and have trains running on the extended section several years after the opening,” said the exdecutive in a recent interview.
The timing is not quite aligned with the MGM Osaka integrated resort’s development schedule. The JPY1.27 trillion ($8.61 billion) project, a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Orix Corporation, broke ground in April 2025 and remains on track for completion by summer 2030. The Japan Tourism Agency confirmed in August 2025 that the detailed design is nearly finalized and that regulatory compliance is progressing as planned.
Beyond the Yumeshima connection, Keihan Holdings has outlined broader expansion strategies to leverage increased tourism from the casino resort. Hirakawa said the company plans to use the existing Keihan network to transport integrated resort visitors to Kyoto, located north of Osaka.
The company also intends to redevelop the street between Kyoto Station square and the Nidec Kyoto Tower into “a green belt where pedestrians can relax.”
To address labor shortages in the railway sector, Keihan is considering partial automation of train operations. “All we have to do is determine when to launch the project,” Hirakawa said, noting that no technical obstacles stand in the way of introducing the semiautomatic system.
The company’s hospitality division is also preparing for growth, with plans to expand hotel operations beyond its current locations in Kyoto, Osaka, and major eastern Japanese cities.
