Nōgata Station

Nōgata Station (直方駅) is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Nōgata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is operated jointly by JR Kyushu and by the third-sector railway operator Heisei Chikuhō Railway. Regarding the Heisei Chikuho Railway portion of the station, on April 1, 2009, Fujimoto Kogyo, a railway vehicle parts sales and graphics company headquartered in Kitakyushu, acquired the naming rights, and the station was called Fujimoto Kogyo StudioCanada Nogata Station (藤本興業 studiocanada 直方駅). As of September 2022, the contract has ended and it has returned to Nogata Station.

Lines
The station is served by the Fukuhoku Yutaka Line portion of the Chikuhō Main Line and is located 24.8 km from the starting point of the line at Wakamatsu. In addition, the station is the northern terminus and starting point of the Heisei Chikuho Railway Ita Line.

Station layout
The JR part of the station consists of two island platforms serving four tracks. Passing loops run between the platform tracks. In addition, numerous sidings branch off the main tracks. To the west of the station, there are more sidings that belong to the JR Kyushu Nōgata train depot. The station has a Midori no Madoguchi staffed ticket office. The Heisei Chikuho Railway part of the station comprises two bay platforms serving two tracks.

History
The station was opened on 30 August 1891 by the privately run Chikuho Kogyo Railway as the southern terminus of a stretch of track which it had laid from Wakamatsu. It became a through-station on 28 October 1892 when the track was further extended south to Kotake. On 11 February 1893, a new stretch of track was laid from the station to Kanada. On 1 October 1897, the Chikuho Kogyo Railway, now renamed the Chikuho Railway, merged with the Kyushu Railway. After the Kyushu Railway was nationalized on 1 July 1907, Japanese Government Railways (JGR) took over control of the station. On 12 October 1909, the track from Wakamatsu became the Chikuho Main Line while the track to Kanada became the Ita Line. With the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, control of the station passed to JR Kyushu. On 1 October 1989, Heisei Chikuho Railway assumed control of the Ita Line.

Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2020, the JR station was used by a daily average of 2487 boarding passengers, making it the 59th busiest station on the JR Kyushu network. . During the same period, the Heisei Chikuho Railway portion of the station was used by 587 passengers.

Surrounding area
Fukuoka Prefecture Nogata General Government Building/Civil Engineering Office
 * Nogata City Hall
 * Nogata City Coal Memorial Hall (about 15 minutes walk to the south)
 * Nogata Tanio Art Museum
 * Fukuoka Prefectural Kurate High School
 * Fukuoka Prefectural Nogata High School