S14 Minami-Otaru Station 南小樽駅
Station and platforms in 2018
General information
Location	Otaru, Hokkaido Japan
Operated by	JR Hokkaido
Line(s)	■ Hakodate Main Line
Distance	254.1 km from Hakodate
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Status	Staffed
Station code	S14
History
Opened	November 28, 1880 (1880-11-28)
Previous names	Kaiunchō; Sumiyoshi Station Otaru (until 1920)
Passengers
FY2014	1,778 daily
Services
Preceding station JR Hokkaido Following station Otaru S15 towards Hakodate Hakodate Main Line Local Otaru-Chikkō S13 towards Asahikawa Otaru S15 Terminus Special Rapid Airport Otaru-Chikkō S13 towards New Chitose Airport Rapid Airport Otaru S15 towards Kutchan Niseko Liner Otaru-Chikkō S13 towards Sapporo
Location
Minami-Otaru Station Location within Hokkaido Show map of Hokkaido Minami-Otaru Station Minami-Otaru Station (Japan) Show map of Japan

Minami-Otaru Station (南小樽駅, Minami-Otaru-eki) is a railway station on the Hakodate Main Line in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The station is numbered "S14".^[1]

Lines

Minami-Otaru Station is served by the Hakodate Main Line.

Layout

The station has one island Platform with two tracks. The platform is in a shallow cutting.^[2] The station has automated ticket machines, automated turnstiles which accept Kitaca,^[3] and a "Midori no Madoguchi" staffed ticket office.

Platforms

History

As one of the intermediate station on the Horonai Railway, Kaiunchō Station (開運町駅) opened on November 11, 1880 provisionally and on November 28 formally. On May 22, 1881 the station was relocated and renamed Sumiyoshi Station (住吉駅) after the station was burned down. It was again renamed as Otaru Station (小樽駅) on June 11, 1900. The present name Minami-Otaru was given on July 15, 1920 when the former Chūō Otaru Station, located closer to the city center, became Otaru Station.^[4]

The station became the junction of the lines of Hokkaido Colliery and Railway Company (former Horonai Railway) and the Hokkaido Railway on August 1, 1905. After the nationalization of the two companies in 1906 and 1907, the trunk line connecting Hakodate and Sapporo via Otaru was named the Hakodate Main Line and its branch between Minami-Otaru (then called Otaru) and Temiya was named the Temiya Line. The Temiya Line was abandoned in 1985.^{[citation needed]}