History
A station on this site was first petitioned for in 1932 by local residents to the National Diet, but the petition was suspended as the Pacific War intensified. In 1943, when natives of Hirabayashi working in Tokyo brought back word that a signal station was being planned somewhere on the Uetsu Main Line for wartime freight expansion and might be upgraded to a station, the mayor of then-Hirabayashi Village and others repeatedly petitioned the sitting Diet member Yoshio Morimoto, and the site was opened as a temporary stopping-point. In 1944 Hirabayashi Temporary Stopping-Point opened with only two return services calling per day. It was upgraded to a full station on 15 May 1952, after which all trains called. Hand-baggage and parcel handling were abolished on 1 September 1972, when the station became unstaffed. With the JNR privatisation on 1 April 1987 the station passed to JR East. A new east-side entrance opened on 15 November 2000, and an Honorary Stationmaster was appointed on 1 May 2012.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Hirabayashi is from this station onward the start of the single-track section of the Uetsu Main Line toward Murakami. It is unstaffed but maintains an Honorary Stationmaster — a JR East alumnus who acts as a volunteer for station and area beautification. Suica and other transport IC cards are not accepted.