Nishi-Kumamoto

Kumamoto – Uto: reduced service (fewer trains than the timetable) from 2 August 2026 until 10 October 2026 (normal timetable planned; operator forecast, not yet confirmed) Full details: Kagoshima Main Line →

Weekday departures: 119/day · Sat & holiday departures: 119/day

First / last departure (weekday): 5:42 / 23:30

Busiest hour: 7:00–8:00 (10)

0:00 ─ 23:00

These are typical departures in the timetable data (see the date below), not a live count: they may include services affected by the notice above.

Timetable data as of 2 May 2026.

• Kagoshima Main Line: Kumamoto (JR Kyushu) ⇄ Kawashiri

Nishi-Kumamoto opened on 26 March 2016 in Karikusa 1-chōme, Minami Ward, Kumamoto, as a petitioned station on JR Kyushu's Kagoshima Main Line. The City of Kumamoto bore the full 1.25-billion-yen construction cost, drawing 380 million yen of that from a national subsidy. Provisional names of "Chikami-shin-eki" and "Chikami" were used during planning; a public ballot held in February–March 2015 returned "Nishi-Kumamoto" as the favourite (389 of 550 entries, around 71 percent), and JR Kyushu formally adopted the name on 23 July 2015. The station has two opposing side platforms long enough for four-car trains on a viaduct, with the forecourt and a single east-side entrance at ground level. Simple IC-card readers and an automatic ticket machine are installed, and the station is also served by "Amakusa-Misumi Line" trains, which run off the Kagoshima Main Line onto the Misumi Line at Uto. The station was built as an unstaffed stop, but staff dispatched from the managing station at Kumamoto can operate a manned ticket window.

JR Kyushu initially predicted just 377 daily boarders and resisted building the station; Kumamoto city, working from local population data, projected over 1,200 and funded the construction itself.