The ferry + railroad is the “Nankai Shikoku Line. The past main route to Kansai Many of the slightly older generation seem to have reacted to the news of Nankai Ferry’s withdrawal. The reason for this is that this route was a “railroad ferry” integrated with Nankai Electric Railway’s trains and had long been “the main route between Shikoku and Kansai. Wakayama Port is directly connected to Wakayama Port Station of Nankai Electric Railway by a dedicated deck, and the high-speed boat + express “Southern,” which ceased operation in 2002, could travel between Tokushima Port and Namba Station in as little as 2 hours and 8 minutes. Surprisingly, the time required for this trip is almost the same as the express bus service between Tokushima and Osaka, which now runs via the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Nankai Electric Railway also ran a large number of commercials throughout the Kansai region, advertising the Nankai Shikoku Line (a nickname that includes both ferry and train services) as the main route to Shikoku. Although there were some options between Tokushima and Osaka, such as “via Awaji Ferry (Oiso Port, Awaji Island to Suma Port, Kobe),” there was no railroad connection, and the bus times were unpredictable in the heavily congested Awaji Island, so there was no confidence in the service ……. On the other hand, the Nankai Ferry is used by many politicians, entertainers, and other business people because of its comfort and punctuality, and the author, who is from Shikoku, was once carried in his arms by the then Governor of Tokushima Prefecture, Shinzo Miki, on the pier of the high-speed vessel “Marine Hawk” when he was a child (I have no memory of this). Anyway, there is no doubt that the “Nankai Shikoku Line” was one of the most popular ferry routes in the Seto Inland Sea.
© Source travel watch