History
Although the Sangu Railway opened its line between Tsu and Miyagawa on 31 December 1893, construction at Rokken was incomplete, and the station did not begin operations until 10 January 1894. The line was nationalised on 1 October 1907 and became part of the Sangu Line of Japanese Government Railways. The station was the site of the Rokken rail accident on 15 October 1956, a signal-overrun collision between two passenger trains that killed 42 people. The line section was reclassified as part of the Kisei Main Line on 15 July 1959, freight ended in 1962, and the station has been unattended since 21 December 1983. JR Central took over at the 1987 privatisation.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
The 1956 Rokken rail accident — 42 fatalities from a signal-overrun collision at this station — remains one of the deadliest railway accidents in postwar Japan and is commemorated by a memorial near the station.