History
Echigo-Hirota Station opened on 27 December 1921 as a Ministry of Railways station on what is now the Shin'etsu Main Line, in the city of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture. Freight handling ended on 1 December 1971. On 26 May 1972 the double-tracking of the line between Hōjō and this station brought Japan's total length of double track past 5,000 km — a milestone later commemorated by a monument on Platform 1. Parcel handling ended in February 1984; the line through the station was simplified in September 1986 and the station was destaffed on 1 November 1986. Operations passed to JR East on 1 April 1987 with privatisation. Numbered platform indications (Platforms 1 and 2) were added in August 2017.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Platform 1 carries a stone monument inscribed "Double-Track 5,000 km" — marking the 26 May 1972 completion of the Hōjō–Echigo-Hirota section, which pushed Japan's total double-track mileage past 5,000 km.