The Ministry of Railroads, later the Japanese National Railways and then Shikoku Railway Company, ran some train ferry lines between Honshū and Shikoku including the line between Uno Station (Tamano) and Takamatsu Station (Takamatsu). When the Great Seto Bridge was finished and began to serve the two coastal areas, that ferry line was abolished. Highways & bridges The main islands Honshū and Shikoku are connected by three series of bridges since the late 1980s. This improves land transportation between the connected islands. These series of bridges, collectively known as the Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project, are, from east to west, Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, Great Seto Bridge, and Nishiseto Expressway. Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Highway The easternmost highway was built between 1976 and 1998. It leads from Akashi (Hyogo prefecture) on the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge (the longest suspension bridge in the world) to Awaji Island, from there via the Ōnaruto Bridge to Ōge-jima (Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture) beyond the 1.3-kilometer wide Naruto Strait and finally across the Muya Bridge to Shikoku. Seto Chuo Highway The Great Seto Bridge connects Okayama Prefecture with Kagawa Prefecture since 1988. It consists of a total of six two-storey bridges, whose lower floors are used by the railway (Japan Railways Group). The high speed Shinkansen does not go to or on Shikoku. Nishiseto Highway / Shimanami Highway This is the first of three intersections of the Seto Inland Sea. Construction started in 1975, but was fully completed in 1999. It connects the Nishiseto- Onomichi Highway in Hiroshima Prefecture with a total of ten bridges and several smaller islands with Imabari in Ehime Prefecture. Approximately 100,000 people live on those islands. The bridges are: Shin Onomichi Bridge, Innoshima Bridge, Ikuchi Bridge, Tatara Bridge, Ōmishima Bridge, the two Ōshima bridges and the three Kurushima Kaikyo bridges. The Kurushima-Kaikyō Bridge connects the island of Ōshima to the main island of Shikoku. Major tourist sites The coastal area of the Seto Inland Sea is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Japan. Even before Japan opened to foreigners in the middle of the 19th century, the sea's beauty was praised and introduced to the Western world by those who visited Japan, including Philipp Franz von Siebold, and after the country's opening, Ferdinand von Richthofen and Thomas Cook. Its coastal area, except for Osaka Prefecture and a part of Wakayama Prefecture, was appointed the on March 16, 1934, as one of three oldest national parks in