Sannomiya Station (JR West)
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Sannomiya Station (三ノ宮駅 Sannomiya eki?) is a train station located in Nunobiki-chō (布引町), Chūō Ward, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, and is operated by the West Japan Railway Company. The station is on the JR Kobe Line which runs between Osaka Station and Himeji Station; part of the Tōkaidō Main Line. As a part of the JR West Urban Network, the following cards are accepted: J-Thru Card, ICOCA, Suica, and PiTaPa.
Sannomiya Station is the main terminal for Kobe. Just to the east is where Kobe Station was established. At the beginning of the Meiji period, the heart of downtown was in that area. However, after Kobe opened a port for foreign trade, and continuing with the post World War II reconstruction and expansion of commercial areas, as well as moving Kobe City Hall to the Sannomiya area, the district soon became the new city center.
Even at the present time, Kobe Station is still the representative station of Kobe. For example, in relation to the calculation of Shinkansen fares, Sannomiya Station isn't the closest of the old network train stations. On the other hand, the number of passengers using Sannomiya Station is greater than that of Kobe Station. Also, the Kobe Terminal for highway buses is in front of Sannomiya Station, not Kobe Station. Likewise, there are more Limited Express Trains, including overnight trains, which stop at Sannomiya Station than at Kobe Station.
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[edit] Station Layout and Design
[edit] Station Placement
Most of the JR Kōbe Line runs on four tracks (複々線 Fukufukusen?), meaning that there are two tracks for each direction. Similar to other stations such as Nishinomiya Station, Sannomiya Station is of the island type, with two above-ground platforms which service four tracks. The inner tracks, Nos. 2 and 3, are for Local and Rapid service trains. On the outside tracks, Nos. 1 and 4, Rapid Service, Special Rapid Service and other Limited Express trains stop. Freight trains also pass on these tracks.
Track Nos. 1 and 4 are capable of accommodating a maximum fifteen car train, while Track Nos. 2 and 3 are limited to twelve cars.
The distance to the adjacent Motomachi Station is the shortest anywhere on the JR Kobe Line.
[edit] Gates
The station has a total of three ticket gates. Access is via the East, Central and West entrances. The West exit provides direct access to Hankyū Sannomiya Station (阪急三宮駅), Hanshin Sannomiya Station (阪神三宮駅) and Kōbe Municipal Subway Sannomiya Station (神戸市営地下鉄三宮駅).
[edit] Ticket Office
Sannomiya Station has a Midori-no-Madoguchi (みどりの窓口), which is the JR ticket office. It is open everyday from the first train until 23:00.
[edit] Train Platforms
| 1 | ■JR Kōbe Line | Rapid/Special Rapid Service for Amagasaki, Ōsaka and Kyōto |
|---|---|---|
| ■Overnight Limited Express "Sunrise Seto/Izumo" | for Atami, Yokohama and Tōkyō | |
| 2 | ■JR Kōbe Line | Local/Rapid Service for Amagasaki, Ōsaka and Kyōto |
| 3 | ■JR Kōbe Line | Local/Rapid Service for Kobe, Nishi-Akashi, Kakogawa and Himeji |
| 4 | ■JR Kōbe Line | Rapid/Special Rapid Service for Kobe, Nishi-Akashi, Kakogawa and Himeji |
| ■Limited Express "Super Hakuto" | for Tottori and Kurayoshi | |
| ■Limited Express "Hamakaze" | for Kasumi, Hamasaka and Tottori |
Rapid Service trains arriving at and departing from Track No. 4 do not stop at Suma Station, Tarumi Station or Maiko Station.
[edit] Adjacent stations
| « | Service | » | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JR Kōbe Line (Tōkaidō Main Line) | ||||
| Ashiya | Special Rapid (新快速) | Kobe | ||
| Rokkōmichi | Rapid (快速) | Motomachi | ||
| Nada | Local (普通) | Motomachi | ||
[edit] Transfer To
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- Sanyō Shinkansen
- Access to the Shin-Kobe Station is via Kobe Municipal Subway Seishin-Yamate Line. After arriving at Sannomiya Station, transfer to the subway line and get off at Shin-Kobe Station. An addition fare is required.
- Many passengers find it easier to board the Shinkansen at Shin-Ōsaka because all passenger lines are accessible in one station.
All of the lines below, and their representative stations, are adjacent to JR Sannomiya Station, or are in adjoining buildings, or can be accessed by the underground shopping center, Santica (さんちか).
[edit] Area Around the Station
The area around Sannomiya Station is the largest business and shopping district in Kōbe City.
- JR Sannomiya Terminal Hotel
- Kobe Central Post Office Sannomiya Station Branch (Postal Services Only)
- Yūcho ATM (Post Office ATM)
- Mint Kōbe Building
- Hanshin Department Store
- Sannomiya Bus Terminal
- Daiei Sannomiya Ekimae Store
- Sogo Kōbe
- Sannomiya Chikagai (Santica)
- Kōbe Kōtsū Center Building
- Minato Bank Sannomiya Branch
- Kōbe Marui
- Tokyu Hands Sannomiya Store
- Ikuta Shrine
- Sannomiya OPA
- Kōbe City Hall
- Mizuho Bank Kōbe Branch・Kōbe Central Branch
- Sumitomo Bank Sannomiya Branch
- Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Bank Sannomiya Branch
- Sannomiya Center Gai
- Japan Route 2
- Hyōgo Route 21
- Flower Road / Hyōgo Route 30
[edit] Ridership
On the first day of fiscal year 2005, 115,115 people boarded trains at Sannomiya Station, ranking forth among JR West stations.
[edit] History
- May 11, 1874: Passenger service begins between Ōsaka Station and Kōbe Station. At the same time, Sannomiya Station opens for passenger service.
- May 1, 1918: Freight and cargo services moved to Kōbekō Station, and were no longer handled at Sannomiya Station.
- October 10, 1931: During the change from ground level platforms to overhead platforms, Sannomiya Station was moved from where the current Motomachi Station is to where the station is now.
- Sogo and other large businesses were moving to the area around the current Sannomiya Station. That area was being developed to be the new center of the city, so it was decided that a new station would be built in that area. The new station built was given the name Sannomiya Station. After the relocation, the former station was reopened in 1934 as Motomachi Station.
- April 1, 1987 - With the breaking up of Japanese National Railways into separate individual business units, Sannomiya Station began operating under the West Japan Railway Company.
- January 17, 1995: Due to the Great Hanshin earthquake, all traffic ceased.
- February 20, 1995: Service between Nada Station and Kobe Station resumed. At that point, part of the platform directly above Flower Road remained removed, so passengers were able to use only the Central and East Entrances. The West Entrance reopened at the end of June.
- The name of the area, as well as the station's name, originates from Sannomiya Shrine. Until 1931, Sannomiya Station occupied the place where the modern day Motomachi Station has been established. Motomachi Station is now the closest station to Sannomiya Jinja, however, when the new Sannomiya Station was built, the name went with it.
- All of the other transportation facilities in Sannomiya are written in Japanese as 三宮, without the Katakana character "ノ". Only JR includes it in the name, written as 三ノ宮駅. It is thought the reason it was included was to prevent people traveling from other parts of the country from misreading the name. The characters of the station's name can be read many different ways. Now, the difference in the name has actually become helpful to travelers. In similar fashion, when Nishinomiya Station opened on the same day, the character "ノ" was also displayed in that station's name. However, for many years, the city of Nishinomiya requested the name be changed to match the city's name. On March 18, 2007, in coordination with the opening of Sakura Shukugawa Station, the name was changed. However, in the case of Sannomiya Station, while the cost of changing all of the signage in the city would certainly be costly, it remains that there has been no request or demand for the name to be changed.
- In the past, Blue Trains (overnight trains with non-sleeper passenger cars) leaving Tokyo Station would stop at Sannomiya Station. However, the last of the Blue Trains that stopped, the Fuji, was merged with the Hayabusa in the route/time-table revision on March 1, 2005, and no longer stops. During the time that the Fuji did stop at Sannomiya Station, the next stop was Ogōri Station (小郡駅?) (present day Shin-Yamaguchi Station).
[edit] Golden Bell Plaza
Near the Central Ticket Gate, is a place with golden bells suspended from the ceiling. This area is called the Golden Bell Plaza. Similar to the Silver Bell Meeting Area at Tōkyō Station, the Golden Bell Plaza is intended to be a familiar place to everyone and a convenient place to meet. The bells were a donation from the Kōbe Central Lions Club.
[edit] Other Information
- During the forth and final year of the railway event "Selection of One Hundred Kinki Stations (近畿の駅百選)," a four year event held to commemorate Railway Day (October 14), JR Sannomiya Station was selected as one of the stations to be honored as a station that represents the Kinki Area.
- In the story, Grave of the Fireflies, the protagonist, Seita, dies at Sannomiya Station.
[edit] External links
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