Even Hiroyuki AGAWA, a railway fan, criticized the plan saying that the battleship Yamato, the Great Wall of China and pyramids constituted 'the three big structures of the world,' and if Shinkansen were built investing a vast amount of money in this era, it would become the second battleship Yamato and would be laughed at by the world (later, seeing that Shinkansen became so successful as to overturn the railway-declining opinion of the world, AGAWA expressed his regret in a talk with Reisuke ISHIDA who succeeded the post of president of JNR from Sogo).
鉄道ファンでもある作家の阿川弘之ですら、大和(戦艦)（大和型戦艦）・万里の長城・ピラミッドが「世界三大一覧構造物・建設物」であり、この時期に莫大な投資をして新幹線を造れば「第2の戦艦大和」となって世界の物笑いの種になると批判した（後に阿川は新幹線が世界の鉄道斜陽論を覆すに至るまでの成功を収めたのを見て、十河の後を継いで国鉄総裁を務めた石田礼助との対談において、自らの不明を悔やむ発言をしている）。