Hikone Station

Hikone Station (彦根駅) is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Hikone, Shiga, Japan. It is operated jointly by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and the private railway operator Ohmi Railway.

Lines
Hikone Station is served by the Biwako Line portion of the JR Tōkaidō Main Line, and is 6.0 kilometers from Maibara and 451.9 kilometers from Tokyo. It is also a station on the Ohmi Railway Main Line and is 5.8 kilometers from the starting point of that line at Maibara.

Layout
The JR Station has two opposed side platforms serving two tracks. Both platforms are connected to the ticket gate on the bridge over the tracks. The east end of the bridge, on the ground, is the Ohmi Railway station wishbone island platform. The station has a Midori no Madoguchi staffed ticket office.

History
The station opened on 1 July 1889 as a station for passengers and cargo on the Japanese Government Railway (JGR) Tōkaidō Line, which became the Japan National Railways (JNR) after World War II. The Ohmi Railway opened on 11 June 1898. Freight operations were discontinued in November 1986. The station came under the aegis of the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) on 1 April 1987 due to the privatization of JNR.

Station numbering was introduced in March 2018 with Hikone being assigned station number JR-A13.

Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2019, the JR station was used by an average of 10,489 passengers daily (boarding passengers only). During the same period, the Ohmi Railway portion of the station was used by 1,371 passengers daily (boarding passengers only)

Surrounding area

 * Hikone Castle
 * Ryōtan-ji
 * Sawayama Castle
 * Shiga Gokoku Shrine
 * Shiga University
 * Shiga Prefectural Hikone Higashi High School
 * Lake Biwa
 * Lake Biwa