is a junction

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the city of Ōdate, Akita,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, operated by the

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 in ...

(JR East). The station also has a freight depot 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 ...

(JR Freight).

Lines

Ōdate Station is a station on the

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station (Fukushima), Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1 ...

, and is located 402.9 km from the terminus of the line at in

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

. It is also a terminal station on the Hanawa Line, and is located 106.9 km from the opposing terminus of the line at in

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

. The station formerly also served the now-defunct Kosaka Smelting & Refining Kosaka Line.

Station layout

The station has a single

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 single

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

serving three tracks, connected to the station building by a footbridge. The station has a ''

Midori no Madoguchi , short for ''Magnetic-electronic Automatic'' ''Reservation System,'' is a train ticket reservation system used by the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and travel agencies in Japan. It was developed jointly by Hitachi and the former Ja ...

'' staffed ticket office.

Platforms

History

Ōdate Station opened on November 15, 1899, on the

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group. Name The English name "Japanese ...

(JGR). The privately owned Kosaka Line began operations in 1909, and the privately owned Akita Railway began operations from July 1, 1914. The Hanaoka Line opened on January 26, 1916. The Akita Railway was nationalized on June 1, 1934. After World War II, the JGR became the

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 Hanaoka Line closed on April 1, 1985. The station was absorbed into the JR East network upon the

privatization Privatization (rendered 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 w ...

of JNR on April 1, 1987. Kosaka Line passenger operations ceased on October 1, 1994, and freight operations ended on March 12, 2008.

Hachikō

A statue of Hachikō was first erected in front of the station in July 1935, but was subsequently melted down for its metal content in World War II, and was not restored until November 1986.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2018, the station was used by an average of 906 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).

Surrounding area

* Ōdate Station Bus Stop * Shūhoku Bus Main Office

References

External links

JR East Station information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odate Station Railway stations in Akita Prefecture Railway stations in Japan opened in 1899 Hanawa Line Ōdate Stations of Japan Freight Railway Company Hachikō