is a railway station on the

Hokkaido Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that links up with the Tōhoku Shinkansen in northern Aomori Prefecture in Honshu and continues on into the interior of Hokkaido through the undersea Seikan Tunnel. Construction started in May ...

in the town of Imabetsu in

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

, on the island of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

, Japan. It is operated by

Hokkaido Railway Company The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to using its official abbreviation of . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a sm ...

(JR Hokkaido), and is the last stop in Honshu before the

Seikan Tunnel The Seikan Tunnel ( ja, 青函トンネル, or , ), is a dual-gauge railway tunnel in Japan, with a portion under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait, which separates Aomori Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu from the northern isla ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Lines

Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station is served by the

between Tokyo or Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. It used to be served by the

Kaikyō Line The is an 87.8-kilometer long railway line operated mainly by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The line connects Naka-Oguni Station in Sotogahama, Aomori, through the Seikan Tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido, to Kikonai Station in K ...

between and prior to the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen. After the beginning of the bullet train services, the Kaikyō Line is normally only used by freight trains.

Station layout

Before the Hokkaido Shinkansen stations were made, Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station had two opposed

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 ...

s serving two tracks. There was no station building, but only a small weather shelter on the platform. The station was unattended. Although the station is in the middle of the section shared by the standard-gauge Hokkaido Shinkansen and the-narrow gauge Kaikyō Line, narrow gauge trains use separate tracks (two each) on the both sides of the Shinkansen station so that only bullet trains pass through the passenger platforms. It is physically connected to Tsugaru-Futamata Station on the

JR East 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 ...

Tsugaru Line The is a railway line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aomori Station and Minmaya Station on the Tsugaru Peninsula in western Aomori Prefecture. The section of the line between Aomori Station and Naka-Oguni Stat ...

by an underground passage.

Platforms

History

on the

opened on 13 March 1988. From 2002, only the

limited express A limited express is a type of express train service. It refers to an express service that stops at a limited number of stops in comparison to other express services on the same or similar routes. Japan The term "limited express" is a common ...

''Hakuchō'' services stopped at this station. According to the 2015 timetable, there were two trains per day in each direction. The station became a stop on the

on 26 March 2016 and was renamed, becoming Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station. As the work to convert the Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station into the Shinkansen station was in progress, passenger services at the station were suspended from 10 August 2015. From August 2015, there were no train services at this station due to the work to convert the station to a stop on the high-speed line.

Surrounding area

* Tsugaru-Futamata Station on the

* Road Station Imabetsu "Asukuru"

References

External links

Location map

{{coord, 41, 08, 41.95, N, 140, 30, 55.94, E, type:railwaystation, display=title Railway stations in Aomori Prefecture Stations of Hokkaido Railway Company Hokkaido Shinkansen Tsugaru-Kaikyō Line Imabetsu, Aomori Railway stations in Japan opened in 1988