History
Saigawa Station opened on 20 April 1897 as a stop on the private Hōshū Railway, which was absorbed by the Kyushu Railway in 1901 and nationalised on 1 July 1907. Japanese Government Railways designated the route the Hōshū Main Line in 1909. Freight handling ceased on 20 October 1971, and from 1 February 1984 the station became an outsourced operation. With the privatisation of JNR on 1 April 1987 the station passed briefly to JR Kyushu before transfer to the third-sector Heisei Chikuhō Railway on 1 October 1989. From 26 February 2021 it became fully unstaffed. The station building doubles as the town community centre "U-Town Saigawa".
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
One early morning up-bound train and one late-night down-bound terminator stable overnight at Saigawa, an unusual arrangement for a town this size.