is a major railway station in

Chūō-ku, Niigata is one of the eight Wards of Japan, wards of Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture, in the Hokuriku region of Japan. It comprises much of the city centre. , the ward had an estimated population of 183,231 in 87,162 households and a population densi ...

, Japan, operated by

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). The station is in the center of Niigata City, the largest city on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

coast in

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

. It forms the central station for the railway infrastructure along the

coast, and is also the terminus of the Jōetsu Shinkansen high-speed line from Tokyo.

Lines

Niigata Station is served by the following lines. * Joetsu Shinkansen *

Shin'etsu Main Line The is a railway line, consisting of three geographically separated sections, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was originally one continuous line connecting and via . Since the opening and later extension of ...

Hakushin Line The is a Japanese railway line which runs between and stations in the cities of Niigata, Niigata, Niigata and Shibata, Niigata, Shibata in Niigata Prefecture. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network. Basic data *Operato ...

* Echigo Line

Station layout

The station has two

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, ...

s (former 1, 4) and two

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 ...

s (former 2/3, and 8/9) at ground level serving a total of six tracks for conventional

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

lines, of which only one island platform remains in use for trains originating from Niigata Station. This island platform (8/9) is an extension of one of the side platforms (1). The station also has two elevated side platforms 2, 5) and one island platform 3,4) serving conventional

lines, and two more elevated island platforms serving four

shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was initially built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond lon ...

tracks (11 to 14). The elevated station building 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 counter and "View Plaza" travel agency. File:Niigata Station Bandai Kaisatsu2018.jpg, Gate (Bandai Entrance) File:Niigata Station Bandai Zidou Kenbaiki.jpg, Ticket machines (Bandai Entrance) File:Niigata Station Platform Norikae Platform 20180825 161926.jpg, Elevated platforms File:Niigata Station 8and9 Horm E129kei.jpg, Ground level platform No.8 and No.9 File:Niigata Station Tizyouho-me 115kei 1Home.jpg, Ground level platform No.1 (not in use) File:Niigata Station Ponsyu kan.jpg, Sake Museum Ponshu-kan

Platforms

(Elevated)

(Ground level)

History

Niigata Station opened on 3 May 1904. 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) on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR East.

Passenger statistics

In fiscal 2017, the station was used by an average of 37,461 passengers daily (boarding passengers only). The passenger figures for previous years are as shown below.

Surrounding area

* CoCoLo Niigata, shopping center in the station * Sake Museum Ponshu-kan * * * Bandai Bridge

Bus terminals

Both the Bandai Entrance and the South Entrance have bus terminals. , the following transit bus line are on service.

Bandaiguchi Bus Terminal

* Niigata City Loop Bus * Transit bus operated by Niigata Kotsu ** BRT " Bandai-bashi Line" : Niigata Sta.— Bandai Bridge— Furumachi—City office— Hakusan Station—Aoyama ** C* : for Central Niigata ** S* : for South Niigata ** W* : for West Niigata ** E* : for East Niigata ** "Sado-Kisen Line" : Niigata Sta.— Toki Messe— Sado Kisen Ferry Terminal

Minamiguchi Bus Terminal

* Transit bus operated by Niigata Kotsu ** Limousine bus for Niigata Airport ** C* / S* / W* / E* *** S7 : for Big Swan Stadium, Niigata Prefectural Baseball Stadium

References

External links

JR East station information
{{Navboxes, list1= {{Joetsu Shinkansen {{Shin'etsu Main Line {{Hakushin Line {{Echigo Line {{Niigata transit Railway stations in Japan opened in 1904 Railway stations in Niigata (city) Shin'etsu Main Line Jōetsu Shinkansen Hakushin Line Echigo Line