History
Higashi-Murayama Station traces back to a provisional stop called Kumegawa, opened on 21 December 1894 by the Kawagoe Railway when bridge-construction delays at the Yanase River prevented immediate through service to Kawagoe. After the line was completed, local residents petitioned and funded a permanent replacement station, which opened a short distance closer to Kokubunji in August 1895 under the name Higashimurayama. The station has since been the junction for the Shinjuku, Kokubunji and Seibuen Lines. Construction of an elevated replacement covering all three lines began in June 2015. Outbound Shinjuku Line tracks moved onto the new viaduct on 29 June 2025; remaining works for the inbound Shinjuku and the Kokubunji/Seibuen platforms are scheduled into 2028.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
A separate platform and gate set existed on what is now the east side of the station to handle "patient cars" carrying Hansen's-disease and tuberculosis sufferers bound for the Tama Zenshoen sanatorium and other local clinics, dismantled after motorised transport replaced rail in 1929; the site is buried under the modern expanded station.