Matsubarako

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

Matsubarako Station opened on 27 December 1932 as a general station with the opening of the Ministry of Railways' Koumi Line between Koumi and Saku-Umi-no-Kuchi. Locals had hoped for a station near the hamlet of Yanaike, but the terrain made that impractical; because the site lay in what was then the village of Kitamaki the planned name was Kitamaki, and the cramped site was to carry only a simple halt. The community argued that a simple halt was inadequate for a station serving the tourist area around Lake Matsubara, so the site was enlarged for a full station and the name was taken from the tourist attraction. Freight was discontinued in June 1960 and parcel handling in October 1970, after which the station became unstaffed, and it passed to JR East on 1 April 1987. At 986 m above sea level it is the ninth-highest JR station, and it now has a single side platform, though it originally had a passing loop.

At 986 m above sea level, Matsubarako ranks ninth among all JR stations by elevation; the Koumi Line climbs through a stretch of continuous steep grades along the Chikuma River gorge here.