History
Ube opened on 1 July 1910 on the San'yō Main Line between Funaki (today's Kōtō) and Onoda, handling passengers and freight from the start. The privately operated Ube Light Railway reached the city's central area in 1914 and was nationalised on 1 May 1943, at which point this station was renamed Nishi-Ube (西宇部駅) and the new Ube Line's terminus took over the 'Ube' name. Campaigning by the Ube Chamber of Commerce restored the original name on 1 October 1964, with the inner-city station simultaneously renamed Ube-Shinkawa. The 1 April 1987 JNR privatisation made this a joint JR West and JR Freight facility. A new ground-level station building was completed in April 1986; the Midori-no-Madoguchi closed on 28 February 2021.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-18.
Notes
Until 1961 the station was also the starting point of the Funaki Railway, making it the rare junction of three operators — JNR, Ube Railway and Funaki Railway — before the latter two were absorbed or abolished.