Murai

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

Murai Station opened on 15 December 1902 as a general station when JNR's Chūō Line was completed between Shiojiri and Matsumoto. The station building was rebuilt in 1922, and at the station's peak coal and silk thread were among the freight handled. Wagon-load freight other than dedicated-line traffic was discontinued in 1982, and parcel handling ended in 1985. The station passed to JR East and JR Freight at the April 1987 privatisation. Automatic ticket gates began operating in December 2005, and Suica IC service became available in April 2017. Construction of a new station building began on 1 March 2022; on 8 October 2024 trains switched to a newly built upbound platform, and on 26 October 2024 the elevated station building and east–west free passage were completed.

The standing soba shop Iidaya-ken, which had operated in front of the station since around 1980, closed in April 2021 ahead of the rebuild, and reopened on the ground floor of the new station building on 2 July 2025.