History
Hira Station opened on 20 July 1974 as an unstaffed stop on the newly built Kosei Line of the Japanese National Railways, in what is now Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. The line was constructed to relieve the parallel Tokaido Main Line section along the western shore of Lake Biwa. The station became part of JR West on 1 April 1987 with the privatisation of JNR. ICOCA service began on 1 November 2003. Local commuter trains stopped serving the station from 26 March 2016. A lift and barrier-free toilet entered service on 16 March 2023. Station numbering JR-B20 was introduced on 17 March 2018.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Notes
An October 2017 strike from Typhoon Lan toppled nine catenary poles immediately next to the station, shutting the Kosei Line through Hira for three days.