History
Ranru Station opened on 25 November 1898 with the Hokkaido Government Railway Teshio Line extension from Nagayama; a further section to Wassamu opened on 15 November 1899. The line was renamed the Soya Line in 1912 and the Soya Main Line in 1919. Freight ended on 1 October 1974, the station was unstaffed from 10 November 1984, and full unstaffing followed electronic blocking on 1 November 1986. JR Hokkaido inherited the station at the 1 April 1987 privatisation, and a smaller present-day building was put up in October 1989. By June 1999 high-speed-line work had converted the layout to a single-line through with elastic point work. Since April 2021 Pippu Town has run the station under a JR-municipality maintenance agreement.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The name Ranru comes from the Ainu "ran-ru" meaning "descending path," a reference to the road coming down off the Shiokari Pass that approaches the station from the north.