History
Ōmi-Shiotsu Station opened on 1 October 1957 with the completion of the Hokuriku Main Line realignment between Kinomoto and Tsuruga, including the 5,170-metre Fukasaka Tunnel that bypassed the old Yanagase route. It became a junction with the Kosei Line when that route opened on 20 July 1974, prompting an expansion to two platforms and five tracks. Freight handling was withdrawn in 1960 and the station became unstaffed in 1984. JR West took over at privatisation in 1987. Through services from the Kyoto-area Special Rapid trains began in October 2006 with the conversion of the Tsuruga - Nagahama section to DC electrification, and a fifth platform was added in December 2021 for snow-emergency use.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Notes
The station is the northernmost in Shiga Prefecture; the 5.2-kilometre track section toward Shin-Hikida is almost entirely inside the Fukasaka Tunnel, and snow sheds protect the junction switches against winter drift.