History
Izumo Sakane Station opened on 12 December 1937, when the section of the Kisuki Line between Yakawa and Bingo Ochiai was completed, bringing the line into its current form. Operated by Japanese National Railways, it passed to JR West with the 1 April 1987 privatisation. The station sits in Okuizumo, Nita District, Shimane Prefecture, and is best known for the three-tier switchback that allows the railway to descend into the Hii River valley toward Bingo Ochiai. The station is unattended and consists of two ground-level side platforms connected by a level crossing; a new station building was completed in April 2010.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Izumo Sakane is one of the few remaining stations in Japan to use a three-stage switchback, with trains reversing direction twice to negotiate the steep gradient between the station and Mitoya Junction.