is a passenger

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

located in the city of

Hyūga, Miyazaki is a port city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1951, with the joint merger of Tomishima Town and Iwawaki Village. , the city has an estimated population of 60,037 making it the 4th largest city in Miyazaki Prefectur ...

, Japan. It is operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) and is on the

Nippō Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, in southern Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). The line connects Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima via the east coast of Kyushu, passing through the p ...

. Hyūgashi Station is located at the heart of Hyuga, Miyazaki. The current station is a timber-steel hybrid structure built in 2008 by Naito Architecture & Associates. It was built as a functional train station and also with the intention of being a symbol of the city.

Lines

The station is served by the

and is located 276.7 km from the starting point of the line at .

Layout

The station consists of an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

serving two tracks at grade. The station building was constructed over a period of more than 10 years with the cooperation of architecture and urban experts, railway officials, government officials, and citizens, including architect Hiroshi Naito and Osamu Shinohara of the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

. Cedar was used because there was a strong request from the local community for it to be used, and although it is an elevated station, it is built to resemble a wooden structure. In September 2008, the station biolding won the Grand Prize at the

Brunel Award The ''Brunel Awards'' are given to railway companies, to encourage outstanding visual design in railway architecture, graphics, industrial design and art, technical infrastructure and environmental integration, and rolling stock. The name is ass ...

, an international design contest related to railways. This is the first time in Japan that a station building has won this award. In addition, the redevelopment of the area around the station won the grand prize in the urban space category of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's 2014 Urban Landscape Award. The station has a ''

Midori no Madoguchi , which stands for ''Multi Access (originally Magnetic-electronic Automatic) seat Reservation System'', is a train ticket reservation system used by the railway companies of former Japanese National Railways, currently Japan Railways Group (JR Grou ...

'' staffed ticket office.

Platforms

History

The station opened on 11 October 1921 as on the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national railway system directly operated by the Japanese Ministry of Railways ( ja, 鉄道省, Tetsudō-shō, ) until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Ra ...

(JGR). It was renamed Hyūgashi Station on 25 May 1963. With the privatization of

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

(JNR) on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR Kyushu. Freight operations were suspended from 1989 and the freight tracks were abolished in 1993.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2016, the station was used by an average of 1405 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).

Surrounding area

The area in and around the station is regularly used for events and festivals. *

Japan National Route 10 240px, Route 10, Ōita 240px, Route 10, Fukuoka, Kanda is a Japanese highway on the island of Kyushu. It originates at the intersection with Route 2 in Kitakyushu, Furoka and passes through the prefectural capitals of Ōita and Miyazaki, ...

References

External links

JR Kyushu station information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyugashi Station Railway stations in Miyazaki Prefecture Stations of Kyushu Railway Company Railway stations in Japan opened in 1921 Hyūga, Miyazaki