On September 10, 2009, the then Governor of Osaka Prefecture Tōru Hashimoto announced that he was examining a 4 km extension of the Sakurajima Line from  to  on the Nankō Port Town Line (New Tram). This was to improve access to the World Trade Center (WTC) in Suminoe-ku, to which the governor considered moving the prefectural government offices.
Traveling from Osaka Station to the WTC requires at least 30 minutes, and this inconvenience is considered a major obstacle to any move. Although the prefecture is willing to foot at least part of the estimated construction cost of 100 billion yen, there has been no discussion yet of the effect on travel patterns with existing transit agencies/companies.