History
Hakuba Station opened on 20 November 1932 as Shinano-Yotsuya Station (信濃四ツ谷駅) on the JNR Ōito-Nan Line, with the Shinano-Ōmachi–Hakuba section electrified in July 1959. The station was renamed Hakuba on 1 October 1968 and passed to JR East with JNR's privatisation in 1987. The 1998 Nagano Olympics prompted a 1996 reconstruction in an Alpine-lodge style with a triangular roof, which also housed the Folkloro Hakuba hotel until its closure in 2006. The November 2014 Nagano-ken Hokubu earthquake forced a temporary suspension of Ōito Line service, restored later that month and in early December. Suica service began on 14 March 2026, and from the March 2025 timetable revision Limited Express Azusa services terminate here.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
From the March 2025 timetable revision, Limited Express Azusa services terminate at Hakuba rather than continuing to Minami-Otari, making the station the line's de facto Limited Express northern terminus.