History
Ōita Station opened on 1 November 1911 as the southern terminus of the then Hōshū Main Line, which Japanese Government Railways had been extending south in phases since nationalising the Kyushu Railway's Kokura–Usa track in 1907. It became a through station on 1 April 1914 when the track was extended further south to Kōzaki, and the route was redesignated the Nippō Main Line on 15 December 1923. JGR opened the Inukai Light Rail Line westwards from Ōita on the same day in 1914; this and a parallel construction from Kumamoto were unified as the Hōhi Main Line on 2 December 1928. The Kyūdai Main Line, descending from the privately built Daito Railway, was completed in 1934. The station passed to JR Kyushu on 1 April 1987.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
The 2015 station-complex redevelopment was featured on NHK World's Japan Railway Journal in February 2018 as a case study in how rebuilding a JR hub can revitalise the surrounding city centre.