Watari (Kumamoto)

Yatsushiro – Hitoyoshi: suspended from 4 July 2020 Check the operator for replacement transport stops and times. Full details: Hisatsu Line →

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

Watari Station opened on 1 June 1908 under the Imperial Railway Agency. With the establishment of national railway line names in October the following year, 1909, it became a Hitoyoshi Main Line station, then a Kagoshima Main Line station, and became a Hisatsu Line station with the line renaming of October 1927. Freight handling ended in stages in 1973 and 1984, and the station became unstaffed with the introduction of electronic block signaling in November 1986. It was inherited by JR Kyushu at the division and privatization of Japanese National Railways on 1 April 1987. In the July 2020 torrential rains the roadbed within the station premises was washed away, and demolition of the station building began in 2021. It is located at Watari, Kuma-mura, Kuma District, Kumamoto Prefecture, and is a ground-level station with one island platform serving two tracks; it once thrived as a timber-shipping station.

The station stands right next to the departure point for the rapids course and the arrival point for the clear-stream course of the Kuma River boat descent, serving as a rail-access hub for sightseeing-boat passengers.