Itoigawa Station

Itoigawa Station (糸魚川駅) is a railway station in Itoigawa, Niigata, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and the third-sector railway operator Echigo Tokimeki Railway. It is also a freight terminal for the Japan Freight Railway Company.

Lines
Itoigawa Station is served by the JR West high-speed Hokuriku Shinkansen and the local Ōito Line, and is located 213.9 kilometers from Takasaki Station and 318.9 kilometers from Tokyo Station. It is 105.4 kilometers from Matsumoto Station, the terminus of the Ōito Line. For the Echigo Tokimeki Railway Nihonkai Hisui Line, the station is 29.9 kilometers from Tomari Station and 315.0 kilometers from Maibara Station.

Station layout
The local portion of the station has one side platform and one island platform 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 staffed ticket office.

Platforms
The departure melody used for the Shinkansen platforms is the traditional children's song "Haru yo Koi" (春よ来い), the lyrics for which were written by, a native of Itoigawa.

History
The station opened on 16 December 1912. With the privatization of JNR on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR West.

The platforms for the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened for service on 14 March 2015.

From 14 March 2015, with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano to Kanazawa, 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