History
Ayabe Station opened on 3 November 1904 when state-built track connected Fukuchiyama and what is now Higashi-Maizuru, and was leased the same day to the Hankaku Railway. The Hankaku Railway was nationalised in 1907 and absorbed into the San'in Main Line in 1912, the year the Maizuru Line branched away from this junction. Freight handling ended in 1982 and parcel handling in 1985. The station joined the West Japan Railway Company on 1 April 1987 at JNR privatization. A new elevated overpass station building opened on 25 September 1999, replacing the original south-side structure, and ICOCA acceptance arrived on 13 March 2021.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Limited-express trains "Kinosaki" and "Hashidate" bound for the San'in Main Line and "Maizuru" bound for the Maizuru Line couple and uncouple at Ayabe, a routine split-and-join operation built into the regular daily timetable.