Sone Station (Osaka)

Sone Station (曽根駅) is a passenger railway station located in the city of  Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the private transportation company Hankyu Railway.

Lines
Sone Station is served by the Hankyu Takarazuka Line, and is located 8.7 kilometers from the terminus of the line at Umeda.

Layout
The station consists of two elevated island platforms with the station facilities underneath. The platform itself is curved and has a slight incline. The effective length of the platform corresponds to 10-car trains. The ticket gates and concourse are on the 2nd floor, and the platform is on the 3rd floor of the station building. A storage track is located between through tracks in the north of the platforms connecting Tracks 2, 3 and 4.

History
Sone Station opened on 30 May 1912. Since the 1970s there have been plans to build a line to Itami Airport from Sone, which would allow through service between the airport and Umeda. Although Hankyu shelved the plans in the 1980s due to capacity constraints, the plans were reportedly revived in 2017 and remain under consideration as of 2018. The Itami Airport terminal is approx. 4 km from Sone.

Station numbering was introduced to all Hankyu stations on 21 December 2013 with this station being designated as station number HK-44.

Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2019, the station was used by an average of 24,131 passengers daily

Surrounding area

 * Toyonaka City Cultural Arts Center - Former Toyonaka Civic Hall