History
Tobata Station opened on 27 December 1902 as an intermediate stop when the first Kyushu Railway connected its Yatsushiro-Kurosaki and Moji-Kokura segments. Nationalisation followed on 1 July 1907, and reorganisation placed the station on the Hitoyoshi Main Line in October 1909 and then on the Kagoshima Main Line a month later. The original building burned down on 30 April 1950. A third-generation building begun in August 1963 was completed on 27 September 1964 as Kyushu's sixth "people's station." The Kokura-Orio section was quadruple-tracked in October 1966, raising the platforms onto an embankment. The current fourth-generation building, shifted roughly 150 m west during area redevelopment, was completed on 1 March 1999. SUGOCA began on 1 March 2009. Station number JA25.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.
Notes
Until 1985 a separate Nishitetsu Kitakyushu Line tram stop called Tobata-eki-mae operated nearby; the once-line of waterfront warehouses fed daily commuter and ferry traffic that still passes through the connecting Wakato Ferry.