4 Japan firms face charges over maglev railway bids

TOKYO — Prosecutors pressed charges Friday against four of Japan’s biggest construction companies, accusing them of colluding on bids for a showcase high-speed magnetic levitation train line connecting Tokyo and central Japan.

The Tokyo district prosecutor’s office said in a statement it indicted Taisei Corp., Kajima Corp., Obayashi Corp. and Shimizu Corp., along with an executive each from Taisei and Kajima, suspected of violating antitrust laws.

They said the builders coordinated bidding to ensure each won a similar share of contracts for the line, called the Linear Chuo Shinkansen.

The $80 billion magnetic levitation, or maglev, railway between Tokyo and Nagoya is a decadeslong project expected to reduce travel time between the two cities to 40 minutes from the current 100 minutes. It is expected to open in 2027 and the line is due to be eventually extended to Osaka in western Japan.

Bid-rigging remains entrenched in Japan’s construction and other sectors, despite repeated efforts to crack down.

The project at the center of the maglev bid-rigging case is for construction of new terminal stations. Prosecutors said that officials from the four companies met at Tokyo restaurants to discuss ways to ensure they could each win bids from the train’s operator, Central Japan Railway Co.

As a result, they obstructed competition and harmed the public interest, prosecutors said.