History
Nihongi Station opened on 1 May 1911 as a Railway Bureau station between Myōkō-Kōgen and Naoetsu, sited on a steep stretch of the Shin-Etsu Main Line. Because the approaches climb at about 25 permil, the station was built with a switchback that survives to this day. Freight handling other than to industrial sidings ended in December 1971; baggage was dropped in February 1984. With JNR privatisation on 1 April 1987 it joined JR East, and final freight services to the Nippon Soda factory ran on 30 March 2007. On 14 March 2015 the station was transferred to Echigo Tokimeki Railway with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Nihongi is the only station in Niigata Prefecture still equipped with a switchback, and the wooden "snow-shelter" over the Nagano-side siding was built from reused Meiji-era rails.