Hitachi Station (日立駅) is in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture. East Japan Railway Company and Japan Freight Railway Company both run it. It opened on 25 February 1897 as Sukegawa Station (助川駅).
History
The station opened on 25 February 1897 as Sukegawa Station, a general station on the Japan Railway. The railway was nationalised on 1 November 1906. In November 1908, the Hitachi Mine private electric railway opened, linking Sukegawa Station with the Hitachi mine. On 12 October 1909, the station was assigned to the Jōban Line.
The station was renamed Hitachi on 20 October 1939, to match the founding of Hitachi city that year. On 18 November 1946, Emperor Showa visited Hitachi city. A special train ran from Tokyo to Hitachi, and another ran from Hitachi to Mito. Japanese National Railways was formed on 1 June 1949. The station building was rebuilt in 1952. The Hitachi Mine railway closed on 5 October 1960.
Land around the station was redeveloped in stages. A station area plan was drawn up in 1977. In March 1983, the city and Nippon Mining bought and sold land that had been the mine's ore-loading yard. City planning decisions followed in December 1985. Luggage handling ended on 1 November 1986. On 1 April 1987, the station passed to JR East and JR Freight. A development plan was adopted in December 1992, and the land readjustment project ended in December 1994. Automatic ticket gates opened on 5 March 1997.
A free passage and an elevated station building were built after 2004. Suica became usable in the Tokyo commuter area on 16 October 2004, and on 15 March 2008 it was extended to Takahagi Station. An outline plan for the station area was made in March 2005, and the melody was changed on 6 October 2005. The city, JR Freight and JR East signed a basic agreement in 2006, and planning approval followed in the same year. Construction began in December 2007. The elevated station opened on 7 April 2011.
The redevelopment earned several awards and later changes followed. The Good Design award was given in 2012, and in 2013 the station area received an urban landscape award and other awards. A Brunel award was given for the station building on 15 October 2014, and the Japan Society of Civil Engineers gave a design award in 2016. A station piano was installed in September 2019, and the STATION BOOTH workspace opened on 7 October 2021. Station decorations were added in the autumn of 2023. The overhead footbridge was closed for age on 14 November 2025, and the temporary ticket gate was closed. On 17 November 2025, the south ticket gate began to be used from the up platform.
See all 41 dated events in the Data view →
Written by an AI from this station's own sourced facts (the dated events in the Data view), nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Found a mistake? . Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.