History
Sakuraoka Station opened on 4 November 1922 with the Ministry of Railways' new Sekihoku Line between Shin-Asahikawa and Aibetsu, taking its name from the cherry trees on the surrounding hills. The line was renamed several times before settling on the Sekihoku Main Line in April 1961. Freight handling ended in 1962 and parcels in January 1983, when the station became a simple-contract stop without resident railway staff; the contract itself ended on 1 April 1996, leaving an unstaffed building. JR Hokkaido inherited the station on 1 April 1987. From the 16 March 2019 timetable revision the special-rapid 'Kitami' (now the rapid 'Kitami') began making down-direction stops to compensate for cuts to the local service.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.