Utsunomiya Station (宇都宮駅) is in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture. East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight) operated the station. Lines served: Karasuyama Line, Nikkō Line, Utsunomiya Line, and Tōhoku Shinkansen.
History
The station was set up across the Tagawa river from the town centre, because the railway was built to avoid the town. It is said to have sold Japan's first station bento, two rice balls with pickled radish. Until the bridge over the Tone river was finished, a ferry linked the two sides. The station opened on 16 July 1885 as the end of the Nippon Railway's second district line. On 1 October 1886 the line was extended to Nasu station, now Nishi-Nasuno. On 1 June 1890 the line to Imaichi opened, which later became part of the Nikkō Line. On 1 April 1902 a two-storey station building was built. On 1 November 1906 the railway was nationalized. On 12 October 1909 the station became part of the Tōhoku Main Line, and the Nikkō branch was named the Nikkō Line.
On 27 December 1925 work began to rebuild the station building. On 12 July 1945 an air raid on Utsunomiya burned down the second station building. On 10 March 1946 a wooden single-storey building was put up as the third station building. On 27 February 1958 the fourth station building was completed. On 7 March 1958 a department store opened on the second floor of the station building.
On 1 November 1974 a temporary station building was opened for the Shinkansen works, with the Ramia building attached to it. On 10 June 1980 the current station building opened as the sixth station building. On 1 August 1980 an east-west free passage opened, because housing was being built on the east side. On 23 June 1982 the Tōhoku Shinkansen opened here. On 4 October 1983 a pedestrian deck was completed. On 1 April 1987 the station was taken over by JR East and JR Freight.
On 1 December 1990 the station building was enlarged and renamed Paseo. On 25 February 1995 automatic ticket gates were installed at the conventional line gate. On 30 November 1996 the Nisshin Seifun flour plant closed, and freight trains stopped arriving around then. On 9 December 1998 automatic ticket gates were installed at the Shinkansen gate. On 18 November 2001 Suica became usable, toward Ōmiya only. On 16 October 2004 Suica became usable as far as Kuroiso. In March 2011 Paseo closed for a full renovation. In April 2012 it reopened with a smaller shop floor, and the floors above became Hotel Mets Utsunomiya. On 1 November 2008 the east station square opened.
On 1 April 2018 the Tap de Go! Shinkansen service started. On 28 June 2019 the View Plaza travel office closed, which ended its presence in Tochigi Prefecture. On 14 March 2020 the e-ticket service started on the Shinkansen. On 23 September 2020 the west side of Paseo was renewed as the Utsunomiya Food Hall. On 26 August 2023 the Utsunomiya Light Rail opened, and a departure ceremony was held near the station. On 1 October 2025 the Eki-net Q-ticket service began on the Tōhoku Shinkansen. On 21 October 2025 the conventional line departure melody changed back to California Shower.
See all 54 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.