History
Ōya Station opened on 9 October 1927 as Mino-Shimokawa (美濃下川) Station — the temporary northern terminus of the Ministry of Railways' Etsumi-Nan Line as it advanced from Mino-Sumihara (now Hahano). The line was extended a further stage from Ōya to Fukado on 6 May 1928. Wagon-load freight handling ended on 29 November 1962. The station's ticket and gate operations were discontinued on 1 April 1974, all freight services on 1 October 1974, and luggage handling and on-site staffing on 1 December 1974. With the third-sector transfer of the JNR Etsumi-Nan Line to the Nagaragawa Railway on 11 December 1986, the station was renamed Ōya. Following the July 2018 heavy-rain damage to signalling between Mino-shi and Ōya, the section reopened under hand-signalling (指導通信式) operation and on-site staffing returned.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-24.
Notes
Ōya is the only passing place between Mino-shi and Gujō-Hachiman, so trains have crossed here since the JNR era. The station has a wooden building on the down side, alongside a small railway museum displaying former-railway artifacts that opens whenever the Nagara sightseeing train runs. Although the Nagara does not exchange passengers here, it stops for around ten minutes to allow a toilet break.