JR West made the railway section to the comprehensive railway yard for Sanyo Shinkansen used for passenger train-cars as well, and started operation of the Hakata-Minami line between Hakata Station and Hakata-Minami Station in 1990 using trains-cars for Kodama trains and as limited-express trains on regular railway lines.
JR西日本は山陽新幹線博多総合車両所への車庫線を旅客線化し、1990年に博多南線として博多駅-博多南駅を、こだま号に使用される車両を用いる在来線特急という形態で営業運転を開始した。