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
Saga
Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia.
The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...
,
Saga Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of roughly 780,000 and has a geographic area of . Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasaki Prefect ...
, Japan, operated by the
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).
Lines
The station is served by the
Nagasaki Main Line
The , or simply known as the Nagasaki Line, is a railway line owned by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) connecting Tosu Station in Saga Prefecture to Nagasaki Station in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. There is a separate branch of this line ...
, located 25.0 km from the starting point of the line at and is a served by trains of the
Karatsu Line
The is a regional railway line in Saga Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects in Saga, Saga, Saga City to in Karatsu, Saga, Karatsu City, both in Saga Prefecture, Japan. The line was originally ...
which continue an additional 6.4 kilometers past the nominal terminal of the line at .
Layout
Saga Station is an elevated station with two
island platforms
An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single railway platform, platform is positioned between two railway track, tracks within a railway station, ...
serving four tracks. The station building and
concourse
A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space.
The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...
are below the platforms, and 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/ When viewed from directly above the station, the elevated shape of the station is straight on the north side, while the south side is curved, a vestige of the future plan to build a
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 ...
station and an elevated Shinkansen line along the north side. There is also a cut-in line on the Tosu side of platform 1, a vestige of the time when Saga Line trains used to depart and arrive there, and a part of the Saga Line elevated track remains about 600 meters from Saga Station toward Tosu.
Platforms
History
The station was opened on 20 August 1891 by 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 ...
as the western terminus of a line from . It became a through station on 5 May 1895 when the track was extended west to Yamaguchi (today ) and Takeo (today ). When the Kyushu Railway was nationalized on 1 July 1907,
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 station became part of the Nagasaki Main Line. On 25 May 1935, the station also became part of the Saga Line when the track from Yabekawa (today to Chikugo-Ōgawa was extended north to Saga. The Saga Line was closed on 28 March 1987. A few days later, 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.
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2020, the station was used by an average of 8,546 passengers daily (boarding passengers only), and it ranked 11th among the busiest stations of JR Kyushu.