New Chitose Airport

History

New Chitose Airport Station opened on 1 July 1992 beneath the domestic terminal at New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Hokkaido, coinciding with the airport terminal's debut. Planning began in February 1983 when the Ministry of Transport announced an airport rail extension; JR Hokkaido applied in November 1987 for a 2.5 km branch from the existing Chitose Airport Station, the first new-line application by a JR group company after the privatisation of JNR. Construction shifted from a shielded tunnel to the cut-and-cover method in October 1988 to reduce costs. Automatic gates arrived on 21 November 1998, station numbering AP15 followed on 1 October 2007, and Kitaca IC fares began on 25 October 2008.

History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.

Notes

The station is the northernmost and easternmost airport-rail terminus in Japan and is also the country's easternmost underground station; its interior was designed in collaboration with Danish State Railways and won a 1994 Brunel Award commendation.