History
Obihiro Station opened on 21 October 1905 and is the principal railway hub of the Tokachi Subprefecture city of Obihiro. The station once anchored the Hiroo Line and the Shihoro Line, but both branches were withdrawn under the JNR Reconstruction Act and closed in February and March 1987 respectively. JR Hokkaido inherited the station at privatisation on 1 April 1987, and the present elevated station, with two island platforms serving four tracks, was rebuilt in 1996. Limited expresses Ōzora (Sapporo–Kushiro) and Tokachi (Sapporo–Obihiro) call here, with the fastest Sapporo–Obihiro journey taking about two hours twenty-five minutes.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Part of the original ground-level tracks running past the former Obihiro Station can still be seen on the north side of the present elevated complex.