History
Hirafuku Station opened on 3 December 1994 with the opening of the Chizu Line, a third-sector semi-public railway operated by Chizu Express, located in Sayō Town in Hyōgo Prefecture. The station has two opposed ground-level side platforms allowing trains to pass each other. In August 2009 Typhoon Etau caused a major washout on the Chizu Line, and from 12 August the Super Hakuto limited expresses were forced to make emergency stops at Hirafuku — with only the first two cars opening their doors because of platform length — to substitute for service at flooded Sayō Station. Full operation resumed on 29 August 2009 once the line had been fully restored. Hirafuku is one of the 100 best stations of the Kinki region as selected in the fourth round of that award.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The station's waiting room is built in the style of a samurai-residence gate, befitting the location at Hirafuku-juku, an old post town on the Inaba Kaidō highway.