The Ministry of Transport authorized the monorail project in December 1961. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 1, 1963, and the subsequent construction of the line progressed rapidly. In May 1964, Japan Elevated Railway Co., Ltd. again changed its name to Tokyo Monorail Co., Ltd. The line cost a total of 21.1 billion yen (equivalent to approximately $60 million in 1964 dollars), of which 20 billion yen was spent for construction and 1.1 billion yen on rolling stock. Hitachi built the first-generation cars in Japan under license of Alweg (through the Hitachi–Alweg joint venture). Upon its inauguration, the Tokyo Monorail became the world's first commercial monorail service and Japan's first airport rail connection.