Shin-Hanamaki Station is served by the Tohoku Shinkansen and the Kamaishi Line. It is 500.0 rail kilometers from the southern terminus of the Tohoku Shinkansen at Tokyo Station and 6.4 rail kilometers from the terminus of the Kamaishi Line at Hanamaki Station. During the daytime, the station is served by approximately one Shinkansen service per hour in each direction, and one local train every one to two hours in each direction on the Kamaishi Line.[1]
Station layout
The station consists of two elevated opposed side platforms for the Tohoku Shinkansen, running approximately north to south, and a single unnumbered side platform at ground level serving the single-track Kamaishi Line. The main Shinkansen portion of the station has a Midori no Madoguchi staffed ticket office. The Tohoku Shinkansen platforms have chest-high platform edge doors set back a few meters from the platform edge in addition to platform edge fences, as there are no centre tracks for non-stop trains at this station, and many trains pass through the station non-stop at high speed.[1] The station building itself is designed with a motif from Miyazawa Kenji's Night on the Galactic Railroad.
Platforms
View of the Kamishi Line platform looking west, October 2006
The Kamaishi Line looking west from Shin-Hanamaki Station in April 2013, showing the kink in the line where the former Yasawa Station used to be situated
Shin-Hanamaki Station opened on 14 March 1985.[2] Construction was planned and funded by the city of Hanamaki and other local authorities, as the Tohoku Shinkansen was built several kilometers away from Hanamaki Station on the Tohoku Main Line.[1] The former Yasawa Station (矢沢駅) located approximately 400 m to the west on the Kamaishi Line was closed coinciding with the opening of Shin-Hanamaki Station.[3]
The Kamaishi Line platform and connecting passage to the main station building was renovated in 2014 with a style evoking the early 20th-century Taishō period portrayed in works by author Kenji Miyazawa, with work completed on 14 October 2014.[4]
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2018, the station was used by an average of 938 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).[5] The passenger figures for previous years are as shown below.
^ abcMakino, Kazuto (October 2013). 新幹線99駅 第16回 通過線のない駅（１） [99 Shinkansen Stations Part 16: Stations without non-stop tracks (1)]. Japan Railfan Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 53, no. 630. Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. p. 63.
^ abIshino, Tetsu, ed. (1998). 停車場変遷大辞典 国鉄・JR編 [Station Transition Directory - JNR/JR]. Vol. II. Japan: JTB. p. 424. ISBN4-533-02980-9.
^ 日本国有鉄道停車場一覧 [JNR Station Directory]. Japan: Japanese National Railways. 1985. p. 555. ISBN4-533-00503-9.
^JR東日本、釜石線の花巻駅・新花巻駅をSL列車「SL銀河」のイメージで改修! [JR East renovates Hanami and Shin-Hanamaki Stations on the Kamaishi Line with "SL Ginga" motif]. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Japan: Mynavi Corporation. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
^各駅の乗車人員 (2018年度) [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2018)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
^各駅の乗車人員 (2000年度) [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2000)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^各駅の乗車人員 (2005年度) [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^各駅の乗車人員 (2010年度) [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2010)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^各駅の乗車人員 (2015年度) [Station passenger figures (Fiscal 2015)] (in Japanese). Japan: East Japan Railway Company. 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
JR East
Bus
