Station

Hirafu

比羅夫

View on the live map →

Hirafu
Photo: Mister0124 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

Timetable information

Departure data for this station is not available on this site.

Location

History

Hirafu Station opened on 15 October 1904 as an intermediate stop on the private Hokkaido Railway during its extension from Hakodate north toward Otaru. The Hokkaido Railway was nationalised on 1 July 1907, and on 12 October 1909 the station became part of the newly designated Hakodate Main Line. Freight handling ended in 1974, baggage handling in 1982, and the same year it was unstaffed; the original passing-loop arrangement was removed in 1985, leaving a single side platform. With the privatisation of JNR on 1 April 1987 control passed to JR Hokkaido, and in June 2023 the station was named among 42 on the JR Hokkaido network slated for abolition owing to low ridership.

Notes

The former station office at Hirafu has been converted into a guesthouse with separate cottages beside the platform — it is the only station in Japan whose building is itself operated as a minshuku.

Sources