is a railway station in

Itoigawa, Niigata is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 41,333, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Itoigawa is located in the far southwestern corner of ...

, Japan, operated by

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

(JR West) and the third-sector railway operator

Echigo Tokimeki Railway The (ETR) is a Japanese third-sector railway operating company established in 2010 to operate passenger railway services on the sections of the JR East Shinetsu Main Line and JR West Hokuriku Main Line within Niigata Prefecture when they were ...

. It is also a freight terminal for the

Japan Freight Railway Company , or , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It provides transportation of cargo nationwide throughout Japan. Its headquarters are in Shibuya, Tokyo near Shinjuku Station. The Japan Railways Group was foun ...

Lines

Itoigawa Station is served by the JR West high-speed

Hokuriku Shinkansen The is a high-speed Shinkansen railway line jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), connecting Tokyo with in the Hokuriku region of Japan. The first section, between and in Nagano Pr ...

and the local

Ōito Line The is a railway line in Japan which connects Matsumoto Station in Nagano Prefecture with Itoigawa Station in Niigata Prefecture. There are two operators on the line: East Japan Railway Company (JR East) operates the section north of Minami-Ot ...

, and is located 213.9 kilometers from

Takasaki Station is a junction railway station located in the city of Takasaki, Gunma, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the private railway operator Jōshin Dentetsu. It is also a freight depot for the Japan Freight Railway Compan ...

and 318.9 kilometers from

Tokyo Station Tokyo Station ( ja, 東京駅, ) is a railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is ...

. It is 105.4 kilometers from

Matsumoto Station is a train station in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), and the private railway operator Alpico Kōtsū. Lines Matsumoto Station is served by the Shinonoi Line and is 13.3 kilome ...

, the

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

of the Ōito Line. For the

Echigo Tokimeki Railway Nihonkai Hisui Line The (ETR) is a Japanese third-sector railway operating company established in 2010 to operate passenger railway services on the sections of the JR East Shinetsu Main Line and JR West Hokuriku Main Line within Niigata Prefecture when they were ...

, the station is 29.9 kilometers from Tomari Station and 315.0 kilometers from

Maibara Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Maibara, Shiga, Japan. On the border between West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), it is jointly operated by both companies, along ...

Station layout

The local portion of the 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 one

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 ...

with a cut-out, serving four tracks in total. The Shinkansen portion of the station has two opposed side platforms, located above the local train platforms. The station building is located below the tracks and platforms. 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

The

departure melody A train melody is a succession of musically expressive tones played when a train is arriving at or about to depart from a train station. As part of train passenger operations, a train melody includes a parade of single notes organized to follow e ...

used for the Shinkansen platforms is the traditional children's song , the lyrics for which were written by , a native of Itoigawa.

History

The station opened on 16 December 1912. With the

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

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 pref ...

on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR West. The platforms for the

opened for service on 14 March 2015. From 14 March 2015, with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from to , local passenger operations over sections of the Shinetsu Main Line and Hokuriku Main Line running roughly parallel to the new shinkansen line were reassigned to third-sector railway operating companies. From this date, operations of former Hokuriku Main Line services were transferred to the ownership of the third-sector operating company Echigo Tokimeki Railway.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2016, the station was used by an average of 1205 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).

Surrounding area

*Itoigawa City Hall *

References

External links

Itoigawa Station (JR West official page)

Echigo Tokimeki Railway HP
{{Ōito Line (JR West) Railway stations in Niigata Prefecture Stations of West Japan Railway Company Stations of Japan Freight Railway Company Railway stations in Toyama Prefecture Railway stations in Japan opened in 1912 Itoigawa, Niigata