History
Sonobe Station opened on 15 August 1899 as the terminus of the Kyoto Railway, an extension from Saga (the present-day Sagaarashiyama). The line was nationalised in 1907, redesignated as part of the San'in Main Line in 1912, and extended west to Ayabe in 1910. The station passed to JR West with the 1 April 1987 privatisation. A new elevated concourse building opened on 16 March 1991, and the section from Kyoto was electrified to Sonobe in 1990 and onward to Ayabe in 1996. Double-tracking from Yagi was completed in 2009, and Sonobe now serves as the operational break between the Sagano Line nickname (eastward) and the formal San'in Main Line (westward).
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Sonobe serves as the operational dividing point between two names for the same San'in Main Line section: trains and signage refer to the route as the Sagano Line east of here and revert to the official San'in Main Line name to the west.