History
Hanaten Station opened on 22 August 1895 when the Naniwa Railway constructed its line between Shijōnawate and Katamachi. Local opposition to railway construction — citing fears that sparks from steam locomotives would set thatched roofs and crops alight — forced the track to be laid through the dry bed of the old Yamato River. The station was nationalised in 1907 and joined the Katamachi Line in 1913. From 1927 onward Hanaten became a major freight junction with branches toward Yodogawa, Hirano, and Suita. A bridge-style station building opened on 1 July 2002, replacing the ageing surface structure. Service on the Osaka Higashi Line began with a partial opening on 15 March 2008, with full through service to Shin-Osaka following on 16 March 2019.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
When the line was first surveyed in the 1890s, residents protested railway construction with two arguments: that locomotive sparks would burn straw roofs and crops, and that having a station would lure local young people into spending their time downtown in Osaka — so the tracks were ultimately laid in the dry bed of the old Yamato River to bypass populated land.