Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station

Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station (西宮北口駅) is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the private transportation company Hankyu Railway. It is one of the main stations in Nishinomiya City, with Hanshin Nishinomiya Station and JR Nishinomiya Station.

Lines
Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station is served by the Hankyu Imazu Line, and is located 7.7 km from the terminus of the line at Takarazuka and is also served by the Hankyu Kobe Line, for which it is 15.6 km from the terminus of that line at Osaka-umeda. The platforms of Hankyu Imazu Line to Takarazuka Station, northbound, and Imazu Station, southbound are separated, and so there are no through trains from Takarazuka to Imazu.

Layout



 * Kobe Line: 2 island platforms and 2 side platforms serving 2 tracks each.


 * Imazu Line (south): an elevated side platform serving a track.


 * Imazu Line (north): 3 bay platforms serving 2 tracks.

History
Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station opened on 16 July 1920 when the Kobe Main Line opened. The Imazu Line opened the next year.

Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station was damaged by the Great Hanshin earthquake in January 1995. Restoration work on the Kobe Line took 7 months to complete.

Station numbering was introduced on 21 December 2013, with Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi being designated as station number HK-08.

Past layout
There were four 90-degree diamond crossings served by the Kobe Line and the Imazu Line until they were removed in 1984 to build the new station building. The crossings were located in the south of the platforms for the Imazu Line, between the westbound platforms and the eastbound platforms for the Kobe Line.


 * Kobe Line westbound platforms: on the east side of the Imazu Line, an island platform serving 2 tracks with a side platform for arrivals in the south.


 * Kobe Line eastbound platforms: on the west side of the Imazu Line, an island platform serving 2 tracks with a side platform for arrivals in the north.


 * Imazu Line: on the north side of the Kobe Line, a side platform and a dead-end platform serving 4 tracks, one of which tracks was removed in 1977.

Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2019, the station was used by an average of 57,674 passengers daily

Surrounding area

 * Hankyu Railway Nishinomiya Garage
 * Hankyu Nishinomiya Gardens (formerly Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium)
 * Hyogo Performing Arts Center
 * ACTA Nishinomiya
 * Koshien Gakuin
 * Koshien Junior College