History
Nagahama Station opened on 10 March 1882 as the terminus of the government railway between Nagahama and Yanagase, on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. From 1884 a rail-and-steamship service operated by the Taikō Steamship Company on Lake Biwa filled the gap between the eastern and western trunk lines until 1889, when the line via Maibara opened and Nagahama became an intermediate station. The original 1882 building, replaced on the site in 1903, is preserved as the Old Nagahama Station Museum and is the oldest surviving Japanese station building. Privatisation in 1987 transferred the station to JR West. Through-running of New Rapid trains began in 1991 with DC electrification to Nagahama, and the present elevated station opened on 14 October 2006.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
The original 1882 station building survives as the Old Nagahama Station Museum and is Japan's oldest preserved railway station structure, designated a Railway Memorial on 14 October 1958.