is a

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 pre ...

in the city of

Nasushiobara, Tochigi 270px, Shiobara Onsen is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,794 in 48,437 households, and a population density of 67 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Nasushioba ...

, Japan, operated by the

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East).

Lines

Kuroiso Station serves as the

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

for two subsections of the JR East

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line ( ja, 東北本線, ) is a long railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Utsunomiya, Fuku ...

, connecting the

Utsunomiya Line The Utsunomiya Line ( ja, 宇都宮線, ) is the name given to a 163.5 kilometer section of the Tōhoku Main Line between Tokyo Station in Tokyo and Kuroiso Station in Nasushiobara, Tochigi, Japan. It is part of the East Japan Railway Compan ...

(for , , and to the south) and the Southern Tōhoku Main Line (for , , and to the north). It lies 163.3 km from the starting point of the line at .

Station layout

This station has one

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

and two

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 ...

s serving a total of five tracks. The platforms are connected to the station building by a footbridge. 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

Kuroiso Station began operation on December 1, 1886, as a station of

Nippon Railway was the first private railway company in the history of Japan. The company built trunk lines connecting Tokyo with the Tōhoku region to the northeast. Most of its lines came under the control of Japanese Government Railways following nationaliza ...

. The Nippon Railway was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

on November 1, 1906, and the station became a JGR station From June 1, 1949, the station came under the control of the

JNR 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 pre ...

. The portion of the Utsunomiya Line from Hōshakuji - Kuroiso was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

(1.5 kV DC) on May 22, 1959, and the section from Kuroiso - Shiroishi was electrified (20 kV 50 Hz AC) on July 1, 1959. With the privatization of

on April 1, 1987, the station came under the control of JR East. The dead section between AC and DC electrification section was just located within this station. Trains drag by electric locomotive should change to AC-powered locomotive for northern bound, or DC-powered for southern, and electric multiple units require dropping pantograph when changing the power. This electric-changing system is hard to maintain, and in 2008 a maintenance worker was killed by electric shock. In 2013, JR East decided to change power lines in this station to be purely DC-powered. The renovation of power system has changed since then, and on 1 January 2018, the dead section has re-located at a place near bridge northern of the station.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2019, the station was used by an average of 2316 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).

Surrounding area

The station, located in the former city of Kuroiso, sits in front of a street lined with several local cafes and businesses. Having a bus terminal, it also serves as a gateway to the neighboring town of Nasu, known in Japan for its mountain

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

and as the location of the Nasu Imperial Villa.

References

External links

JR East station information
{{Tohoku Main Line Railway stations in Tochigi Prefecture Tōhoku Main Line Utsunomiya Line Railway stations in Japan opened in 1886 Nasushiobara Stations of East Japan Railway Company