History
Shin-Tamana opened on 12 March 2011 with the first section of the Kyushu Shinkansen between Hakata and Shin-Yatsushiro. The station was built about 4 km north-east of Tamana, the existing Kagoshima Main Line stop that serves as the city's principal station, and is a Shinkansen-only facility with no conventional-line platforms. It has two opposed side platforms, the southernmost shinkansen-exclusive station in Japan, and is served chiefly by Tsubame local services plus a small number of Sakura limited-stop trains to and from Shin-Osaka. In October 2015 JR Kyushu announced it would withdraw platform staff, making Shin-Tamana the first shinkansen station to operate without anyone on the platforms.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-22.
Notes
Shin-Tamana is the southernmost shinkansen-only station in Japan, and in October 2015 it became the first shinkansen station anywhere to operate without staff on the platforms — possible because of its straight tracks and unusually low passenger numbers.