History
Tamura Station is on the JR West Hokuriku Main Line in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, within the section nicknamed the "Biwako Line" and carrying station number JR-A10. It opened on 14 October 1931 between Hosshōji (now Sakata) and Nagahama as a halt for gasoline-railcar service introduced between Hikone and Nagahama, was suspended on 1 November 1940 because of wartime fuel shortages, and reopened on 10 December 1954. On 1 October 1957 the station became the boundary point for the new AC electrification reaching to Tsuruga, with platform layouts staggered and sidings added so that locomotives could be exchanged here. DC electrification reached Maibara on 28 December 1962, and the section to Nagahama was converted from AC to DC on 14 September 1991, allowing through new-rapid trains. The station passed to JR West on 1 April 1987 and gained ICOCA support on 1 November 2003.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Because Tamura sat at the boundary between AC and DC traction from 1957, every northbound express had to swap engines here; the long platform that still survives — built to accommodate 14-car limited expresses doing the swap — was retained when locomotive exchange was abolished in 1983, and the wide gap between today's eight-car trains and the platform ends still preserves the layout.