is a junction passenger

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

located in the town of

Arita, Saga is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Nishimatsuura District, Saga, Nishimatsuura District, Saga Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 18,634 in 7867 households, and a population density of 280 people per km2. The ...

, Japan, jointly operated by

Kyushu Railway Company The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle (JR Kyushu), Beetle hydrofoil service across th ...

(JR Kyushu) and the third-sector

Matsuura Railway is a third-sector railway company in Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki and Saga Prefecture in Japan. Lines The railway company operates the 93.8 km Nishi-Kyushu Line from in Saga Prefecture to in Nagasaki Prefecture, with 57 stations. Princ ...

and is a transfer station between the Sasebo Line and the Nishi-Kyushu Line.

Lines

Arita Station is served by the JR Kyushu Sasebo Line and is located 28.2 km from the starting point of the line at . Besides the Sasebo Line local services, the JR limited services ''

Huis Ten Bosch Huis ten Bosch (, ; ) is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. Huis ten Bosch was th ...

'' from to and '' Midori'' from Hakata to also stop at the station. The station is also the terminus for the 03.8 Matsuura Railway Nishi-Kyushu Line to .

Layout

The station consists of a

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

and an

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

serving three tracks. Platforms 1 (side platform) and 2 (on the island) are used by Sasebo Line trains while platform 3 (also on the island), whose track is a dead-end siding, is used by Nishi-Kyushu Line trains. A through-track runs between the two platforms. The station building is a modern structure with a distinctive circular skylight. It houses a waiting area, staffed ticket windows for both JR Kyushu and the Matsuura Railway, an Arita tourist information centre and a cafe. Access to the island platform from the station building is by means of a footbridge. Paid parking is available at the station forecourt and car rentals are available.Blog entry with detailed photographic coverage of station facilities. Management of the JR facilities at the station has been outsourced to the JR Kyushu Tetsudou Eigyou Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of JR Kyushu specialising in station services. It staffs the ticket counter which is equipped with a ''Midori no Madoguchi'' facility. To the north of the station, beyond platform 3, are multiple sidings, some of which are used by the (Arita ORS), a JR Freight facility for the transhipment of container freight by trucks.

Platforms

file:View from overpass of Arita Station (east).jpg, A view of the station platforms and tracks from the footbridge. Note the through-track between the platforms. file:Platform of Arita Station.jpg, View of Platform 1 looking west, in the direction of . Note there is a siding branching off the track. file:View from platform of Arita Station.jpg, View of platform 3. Note the sidings and containers of the Arita ORS.

Adjacent stations

, - , colspan=5 style="text-align:center;" , JR Kyushu , - , colspan=5 style="text-align:center;" , Matsuura Railway

History

The private

Kyushu Railway was a company that built and operated railways in Kyushu, one of four main islands of Japan. Most of its lines came under the control of Japanese Government Railways following nationalization in 1907, and many are now operated by Kyushu Railway ...

had opened a track from to and Takeo (today ) by 5 May 1895. In the next phase of expansion, the track was extended further west with Haiki opening as the new western terminus on 10 July 1897. Arita was opened on the same day as an intermediate station on the new track. On 7 August 1898, the private Imari Railway opened a track from Imari with Arita as its southern terminus. The Imari Railway merged with the Kyushu Railway on 28 December the same year. The Kyushu Railway was nationalized on 1 July 1907 and

Japanese Government Railways The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group. Name The English name "Japanese ...

(JGR) took over control of the station. On 12 October 1909, the line to was designated the Nagasaki Main Line while the branch to Imari was designated the Imari Line. On 1 December 1934, another route was given the designation Nagasaki Main Line and track serving the station from to was redesignated the Sasebo Line. On 1 March 1945, the track to Imari was designated as part of the Matsuura Line. With the privatization of

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

(JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, control of the station passed to JR Kyushu. On 1 April 1988, the Matsuura Line was divested to the third-sector

and the line was renamed the Nishi-Kyushu Line.

Passenger statistics

For the JR Kyushu station, in fiscal 2016, the station was used by an average of 888 passengers daily (boarding passengers only), and it ranked 178th among the busiest stations of JR Kyushu. For the Matsuura Railway station, in fiscal 2015, there were a total of 142,266 boarding passengers, giving a daily average of 390 passengers. See table 12-7 at section under Transportation and Communications.

References

External links

Arita Station (JR Kyushu)
{{Nishi-Kyūshū Line Railway stations in Saga Prefecture Railway stations in Japan opened in 1897 Arita, Saga