History
Washibetsu Station opened on 1 December 1901 as a Hokkaido Colliery and Railway Company kanihatsu (simple) stop. On 21 April 1903 it was relocated about 500 m closer to Horobetsu and upgraded to a full station. The line was nationalised on 1 October 1906. Freight handling was discontinued in 1944, briefly resumed after the war, and ended for good on 15 November 1959. Operation passed to JR Hokkaido on 1 April 1987. The platforms were realigned in October 1996 when the JR Freight East-Muroran yard was redeveloped; the station became fully unstaffed on 1 November 2015. The adjacent Washibetsu locomotive depot was later transferred to the Goryōkaku depot.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The Ainu etymology of "Washibetsu" is uncertain; suggested derivations include chiw-as-pet ("river where waves rise") or ash-us-pet ("river where brush grows densely").