Ibaraki Station (茨木駅) is a ground-level station with a concourse in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture. West Japan Railway Company runs it. It opened on 9 August 1876.
History
Ibaraki Station (茨木駅) opened on 9 August 1876 between Takatsuki and Osaka stations on the national railway, handling passengers and freight. On 1 April 1895 the line through the station was named the Tokaido Line. On 1 October 1969 the station was rebuilt as the current station building, the third, built over the tracks.
In 1970, for the Japan World Exposition, express trains stopped here temporarily, and the station took the nickname Banpaku Higashiguchi Station. A campaign to keep the stop led to rapid trains stopping here after the Expo closed. On 4 September 1976 an accident occurred between this station and the Japan Monopoly Corporation's siding, involving the Keihan train Hyakunen-go. Private sidings ran from the station to the Japan Tobacco Ibaraki plant, the Toyo Seikan Ibaraki plant and the Sapporo Beer Osaka plant, and freight was carried on them. Freight handling ended on 1 November 1986.
On 1 April 1987, when national railways were split up, the station passed to West Japan Railway Company (JR West). On 13 March 1988 the JR Kyoto Line nickname came into use. In 1990, for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition, some Raicho limited express trains stopped temporarily to give access to the venue. On 19 July 1997 automatic ticket gates came into use. On 29 July 2002 an operations control system for the JR Kyoto and Kobe lines was introduced. ICOCA could be used from 1 November 2003. On 18 March 2007 the station's automatic announcements were updated.
On 12 March 2015 an approach melody replaced the warning sound. On 16 March 2015 renewal works began, the east deck called Ibaraki Sky Palette opened, and the east-side bus stops were completed. On 17 March 2017 JR Somokuji Station opened next to this station on the Kyoto side, and station numbering began at the same time. On 11 September 2017 escalators inside the ticket gates came into use. On 1 April 2018 the outside facilities had their grand opening, and the renewal was complete. On 17 May 2019 the Viera Ibaraki Shinnakajo building opened south-east of the station.
On 31 March 2023 JR West's first platform safety screens came into use on platforms two and three. On 12 June 2023 a train disruption happened in the morning rush hour. Transport control sent a freight train into a siding with no platform. Its rear end blocked the main line, and trains behind it could not run. Some passengers got off and walked to Settsu-Tonda Station. On 24 August 2023 platform safety screens came into use on platforms one and four.
See all 24 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.