Kiyone

History

Kiyone Station opened on 17 February 1925 with the Hakubi South Line, which became part of the unified Hakubi Line on 25 October 1928. Freight was withdrawn on 1 October 1971 and parcel handling on 1 February 1984. With the 1 April 1987 privatisation of Japan National Railways the station passed to JR West. The third-sector Ibara Railway Ibara Line began service on 11 January 1999, sharing the southern half of the island platform. ICOCA acceptance began on 1 September 2007, and an east entrance was added in February 2010 as part of a Sōja-led plaza redevelopment. The JR reserved-ticket window closed on 28 February 2021 and the JR side became fully unstaffed the next day.

History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.

Notes

Kiyone and the section onward to Sōja are jointly used by JR West and Ibara Railway, an unusual setup in which the third-sector operator runs trains over a JR-owned track as the second-class rail operator.