Ōita Station is a railway station located in Ōita, Ōita Prefecture, Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company. The station opened on November 1, 1911. It has since undergone renovation, reopening in 2012 — the 'main' area of the station is now the southern, rather than the northern, entrance.
There are four side platforms and eight island platforms. The station was under construction to make it elevated. This work was to be finished by 2008 but fell behind schedule. It was completed on March 17, 2012.
History
opened the station on 1 November 1911 as the southern terminus of its then Hōshū Main Line which it had been extending southwards in phases since 1907 when it had acquired the former Kyushu Railway's private track from south to. Ōita became a through-station on 1 April 1914 when the track was extended further south to. On 15 December 1923, this entire stretch of track was redesignated as the Nippo Main Line. Separately, on 1 April 1914, JGR opened the Inukai Light Rail Line from Ōita westwards to. This track later linked up with another built eastwards from and the entire stretch was designated as the Hōhi Main Line on 2 December 1928. The origin of the third line to serve the station, the Kyudai Main Line lay with the private Daito Railway which opened a track from Ōita westwards to on 30 October 1915. On 1 December 1922, the Daito Railway was nationalized and JGR designated this stretch of track as the Daito Line. By 1934, the track had linked up with a track built eastwards from and the entire route was designated the Kyudai Main Line. With the privatization of Japanese National Railways, the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, Ōita came under the control of JR Kyushu.
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2016, the station was used by an average of 19,165 passengers daily, and it ranked 4th among the busiest stations of JR Kyushu.
The station in media
The JR Ōita City station complex was the main subject of an episode in the NHK World English documentary series Japan Railway Journal. The episode was titled JR Ōita City: The Station Complex that Changed the Game and was first broadcast on 15 February 2018. The episode describes how the station complex, which opened in 2015, contributed to increased ridership at the station and also to the economic revitalization of the surrounding area. The same episode also covered the Bungo-Mori Roundhouse Park, located near Bungo-Mori Station.
