The Kofu District Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of residents of Yamanashi Prefecture, demanding that Central Japan Railway halt construction of a section of a magnetic levitation train line that runs through the prefecture and pay them compensation for noise pollution, NHK reported.
The court on Tuesday rejected the claims of the residents in the prefecture’s Minami-Alps city whose homes and farmland are near a proposed viaduct construction site, it said. The NHK report did not say how many residents were involved in the suit.
The court recognized that there is a “high public interest” in the project, adding that there is no illegality in it that would warrant the construction to be suspended.
The plaintiffs had sought an injunction against the construction and ¥1 million ($6,400) per person, arguing that the value of their properties would decline, their living environment would deteriorate and they would suffer emotional distress during and after the viaduct’s construction.
JR Central welcomed the ruling, saying the court had made an appropriate decision, while the plaintiffs said it ignored how it would affect local residents, the report said.