Urawa Station (浦和駅) is in Urawa Ward, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture. East Japan Railway Company (JR East) runs the station. Lines served: Takasaki Line, Utsunomiya Line, Keihin–Tōhoku Line, and Shōnan–Shinjuku Line.
History
The station was set up on the south-east edge of the old Urawa post town, not in its centre, and near the prefectural office. Urawa station opened on 28 July 1883, when the Nippon Railway opened its line from Ueno to Kumagaya. It was a ground-level station with two faces and three lines. In December 1890 the Akabane to Ōmiya section was made double track. On 1 November 1906 the railway was nationalized. On 12 October 1909 the station became part of the Tōhoku Main Line. In 1929 a second station building opened. On 27 December 1930 the east exit opened.
In 1931 the west and east sides each had a wooden station building, joined by an underground passage. Two freight lines were added on 1 December 1931, but no platform was built here for them. On 1 September 1932 electric Keihin-Tōhoku trains were extended here. Until 1968 most Tōhoku Main Line and Takasaki Line trains passed through the station without stopping. Freight handling was abolished on 16 January 1960. On 20 October 1967 a new west station building was built to prepare for six tracks. On 25 September 1968 the line was made six tracks. Keihin-Tōhoku trains were separated from the Tōhoku and Takasaki trains for the first time. On 1 October 1968 platforms for Tōhoku passenger trains were added, and mid-distance trains began stopping at rush hour.
On 15 November 1982 mid-distance trains began stopping all day. On 1 April 1987 the station became part of JR East. On 18 November 2001 Suica became usable. On 26 October 2003 work started to raise the station onto an elevated structure. The town had been divided in two by the station since it opened, and Shōnan–Shinjuku Line trains could not stop under the old layout. On 18 May 2008 the Keihin-Tōhoku platforms were completed on the elevated structure. It was the first fully elevated Keihin-Tōhoku station in Saitama Prefecture. On 6 March 2011 the Tōhoku Main Line platforms on the elevated structure were completed.
On 16 March 2013 the Shōnan–Shinjuku Line platforms opened on the Tōhoku freight line. Tōbu limited express trains to Nikkō and Kinugawa began stopping here. An east-west passage under the elevated structure also opened, and the ticket gates on each side were combined in the middle of the station. On 28 July 2013 commemorative tickets were issued for the station's anniversary. In December 2014 the east transport plaza was completed. On 25 November 2015 the Atre Urawa shopping area opened under the west side of the elevated structure. On 12 March 2017 the station began the JR East eco station project. It was the first in Saitama Prefecture, and the first railway station in Japan to install an energy management system. On 21 October 2017 platform doors started on the Keihin-Tōhoku platforms. On 16 March 2018 the West Area building opened, with an underground passage to the Isetan department store. On 30 November 2019 the View Plaza travel office closed.
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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.