is an interchange 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 city of

Ebina, Kanagawa is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan., the city had an estimated population of 141,276 and a population density of 5300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ebina is located approximately 50 kilometers from centr ...

, Japan. It is jointly operated by the

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

(JR East), and the private railway operators

Odakyu Electric Railway , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its '' Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Company f ...

, and

Sagami Railway The , or , is a private railway company operating three lines in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of holding company Sōtetsu Holdings, Inc. Sōtetsu Holdings is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange; 6.58% of it is own ...

(Sōtetsu).

Lines

Ebina Station is served by the following lines. *

Odakyu Odawara Line , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its '' Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Company ...

Sagami Line The is a railway line in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It approximately parallels the east bank of the Sagami River. The line connects Hashimoto Station (Kanagawa), Hashimoto Station in Sagami ...

Sōtetsu Main Line The is a railway line in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Sagami Railway (Sotetsu). It connects and . Services Services on the Main Line are divided into four categories. Some trains travel along the Izu ...

The station is from the Odakyu terminus at

Shinjuku Station is a major railway station in Tokyo, Japan, that serves as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central/eastern Tokyo (the Special wards of Tokyo, special wards) and Western Tokyo on the inter-city rail, commuter rail, and rapid tr ...

, from the Sagami Line terminus at

Chigasaki Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the city of Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Chigasaki Station is served by the Tōkaidō Main Line and the Shōnan-Shinj ...

, and from the Sotetsu terminus at

Yokohama Station is a major interchange railway station in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. It is the busiest station in Kanagawa Prefecture and the fifth-busiest in the world as of 2013, serving 760 million passengers a year. Lines Yokohama Station is served by t ...

Station layout

Sōtetsu

The Sōtetsu Main Line station has a

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. They must have a buffer stop ...

, serving two tracks.

JR East

The JR Sagami Line station has a single

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 two tracks. The station has a ''

Midori no Madoguchi , short for ''Magnetic-electronic Automatic'' ''Reservation System,'' is a train ticket reservation system used by the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and travel agencies in Japan. It was developed jointly by Hitachi and the former Ja ...

'' staffed ticket office.

Odakyu

The Odakyu Odawara Line station has two island platforms serving four tracks.

History

Ebina Station was opened on 25 November 1941 as the terminal station of the , now Sagami Railway). The Odakyu Line , which had been in operation since 1927, was shifted on 1 April 1943, for joint operation of Ebina Station. From December 1971, Ebina became one of the chief

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

s of the Odakyu line. On 21 December 1973, a new station was opened, located approximately from the old station in the direction of Odawara. From 21 March 1987, the Sagami Line began operations to Ebina, less than a month before the dissolution and

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of the

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 ...

and formation of the

Station numbering Station numbering is a sign system which assigns station codes consisting of a few letters and numbers to train stations. It aims to facilitate navigation for foreign travelers not familiar with the local language by using globally understood c ...

was introduced to the Odakyu Line in January 2014 with Ebina being assigned station number OH32. The Odakyu Ebina Station has a unique platform jingle that plays when trains are arriving. The melody is from the song

Sakura The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

by the Japanese pop band,

Ikimonogakari The romanization of the group's name does not have the hyphen according to Sony's websites for their albums. is a Japanese pop rock duo from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan consisting of Yoshiki Mizuno and Kiyoe Yoshioka. The group started in Februa ...

(いきものがかり). The Odawara bound platforms 1 and 2 play the intro to the song while the Shinjuku / Chiyoda Line bound platforms 3 and 4 play a short portion from the middle of the song. On 19 April 2021 the Romance Car Museum opened beside the west exit to the station.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2019, the JR portion of the station was used by an average of 14,307 passengers daily (boarding passengers only). During the same period, the Odakyu station was used by an average of 152,370 passengers daily (total) and the Sotetsu portion of the station by 123,214 passengers (total). The passenger figures (boarding passengers only) for previous years are as shown below.

References

External links

Ebina Station (Odakyu)

Ebina Station (JR East)

Ebina Station (Sagami Railway)
{{Sagami Line Railway stations in Japan opened in 1941 Odakyu Odawara Line Stations of Odakyu Electric Railway Sagami Railway Main Line Stations of Sagami Railway Railway stations in Kanagawa Prefecture Sagami Line Ebina, Kanagawa