History
Mikawashima Station opened on 1 April 1905 as a Nippon Railway stop in what is now Nishi-Nippori 1-chōme, Arakawa ward. The line was nationalised in 1906 and the section became part of the Jōban Line in 1909. On 3 May 1962 a triple-train collision about 350 metres east of the station — between a freight train, a Toride-bound passenger train and an Ueno-bound passenger train, the latter ploughing into evacuees from the first crash — killed 160 people and injured 296, the worst rail disaster on Japanese soil to that date. JR East took over the station on 1 April 1987 at JNR privatisation.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Mikawashima has the lowest daily ridership of any Jōban Rapid Line stop in JR East's Greater Tokyo network between Ueno and Toride, and is the fourth-lowest among all stations within the 23 special wards.