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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

located in Ōita City,

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kum ...

, Japan. It is operated by

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Str ...

Lines

The station is served by the

Hōhi Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, southern Japan, operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects the west and east coasts of the island. The line originates at Kumamoto Station in Kumamoto and ends at terminal of Ōita Statio ...

and is located 136.3 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 o ...

serving two tracks. The station building is an old wooden structure and houses a waiting area, a staffed ticket window, a SUGOCA charge machine and a SUGOCA card reader. Access to the island platform is by means of a footbridge. The station is unmanned, but there is an automatic ticket vending machine.

Platforms

History

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 R ...

(JGR) opened the station on 1 April 1914 as the western terminus of its (later Inukai Line) from . Naka-Handa became a through-station on 1 September 1916 when the track was extended further west to . By 1928, the track had, extended west in phases, had linked up with the reaching eastwards from . On 2 December 1928, the entire track from Kumamoto through Naka-Handa to Ōita was designated as the

. 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 pre ...

(JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, Naka-Handa came under the control of JR Kyushu. In September 2017, Typhoon Talim (Typhoon 18) damaged the Hōhi Main Line at several locations. Services between Aso and Naka-Handa were suspended and replaced by bus services. Rail services were resumed on 2 October 2017. JR Kyushu had planned to convert Naka-Handa (with several other stations in Ōita City) into an unstaffed, remotely-managed "Smart Support Station" by 17 March 2018 but after opposition from users, this was postponed, pending works to improve accessibility.It was then introduced on July 1, 2023.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2016, the station was used by an average of 950 passengers daily (boarding passengers only), and it ranked 172nd among the busiest stations of JR Kyushu.

Surrounding area

*Tojigawara Battlefield Site *Oita Prefectural Oita Minami High School *Oita City Handa Junior High School *Oita City Handa Elementary School

References

External links

Nakahanda (JR Kyushu)
Railway stations in Ōita Prefecture Railway stations in Japan opened in 1914 Ōita (city) {{oita-rail-station-stub