Kyū-Shirataki Station

旧白滝駅
The station platform in June 2009
General information
LocationKyūshirataki, Engaru-cho, Monbetsu-gun, Hokkaido 099-0102
Japan
Operated by JR Hokkaido
Line(s)■ Sekihoku Main Line
Distance88.3 km (54.9 mi) from Shin-Asahikawa
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
Other information
StatusClosed
Station codeA46
History
Opened11 February 1947 (1947-02-11)
Closed25 March 2016 (2016-03-25)
Location
Kyū-Shirataki Station is located in Japan
Kyū-Shirataki Station
Kyū-Shirataki Station
Location within Japan

Kyū-Shirataki Station (旧白滝駅, Kyū-Shirataki-eki, lit. "Old Shirataki") was a railway station on the Sekihoku Main Line in Engaru, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). Opened in 1947, the station closed in March 2016.

Lines

Kyū-Shirataki Station was served by the single-track Sekihoku Main Line, lying 88.3 km (54.9 mi) from the official starting point of the line at Shin-Asahikawa. The station was numbered "A46".

Station layout

The station had a side platform serving the otherwise single-track line. The station was unstaffed, but had a station structure and waiting room.

Adjacent stations

« Service »
Sekihoku Main Line
Limited Express Okhotsk: Does not stop at this station
Limited Express Taisetsu: Does not stop at this station
Limited Rapid Kitami: Does not stop at this station
Shirataki   Local   Shimo-Shirataki

History

The station opened on 11 February 1947.[1] With the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR) on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR Hokkaido.[1]

In July 2015, JR Hokkaido announced that it would be closing the station along with three others on the line (Shimo-Shirataki Station, Kami-Shirataki Station, and Kanehana Station) in March 2016, due to low passenger usage.[2]

The station closed following the last day of services on 25 March 2016.[3] The station structure and platform was demolished in October 2016.[4]

In viral news

From January 2016, the station became the subject of global viral news, where it got known as being "the station that stays open for one high school girl".

The first known mention of the station was in an article published in The Asahi Shimbun on 7 January 2015 about Kana Harada, a 17-year-old student at the Hokkaido Engaru High School who took the train to school at Kyū-Shirataki Station, which had only one train stopping on the direction of the school, and three in the afternoon in the opposite direction. When she got on the train, there were already dozens of passengers, most of them being students at her school.[5]

On 22 July, The Hokkaido Shimbun reported that JR Hokkaido would close the station when the timetables were revised in March of the following year.[2] The article also includes comments from Harada, who said that she rarely ever sees other people use the station and that she heard the station would close after her graduation.[6] On 1 March 2016, Harada took the train for the last time to attend her graduation ceremony.[7]

The first known occurrence of the news outside of Japan was on the Korean channel JTBC on 6 January.[8] In their news coverage, they indicated that the station was Kami-Shirataki Station and it also caused a mistake on the timetable as this station only had one train in each direction. They continued by saying that the reason the station had not closed yet is that is it was still being used by a few residents and it showed that Japan is a society that does not give up, even for one person.

The most frequently cited origin of the story is a Facebook post in English by the Chinese television network CCTV News on 8 January.[9] The post said that the station was scheduled to close three years ago, but when JR discovered that a young girl was using it, they changed their mind and waited for her to graduate on 26 March and the train ran on a timetable based on when the girls needs to be to school and back. Most of the information on the post is actually not accurate as there is no known causality between the fact that Harada used the station and it staying open. Actually, in an article, Harada said that taking the train at this station allowed her to sleep a bit longer as otherwise she would have needed to take the same train one station earlier at Shirataki station.[10] The date that the station closed is also only a coincidence. JR updates their timetables every year in March, which just happened to be the end of the school year in Japan.

Some media went as far as to suggest that she was the only passenger in a train that runs twice a day only for her,[11] but she was not the only passenger and more trains were using the line, just not stopping at the station.

Other news outlets tried to debunk the news, like The Straits Times that mistakenly suggest that Harada was taking the train at the station along with ten other schoolmates,[12] while others properly pointed out that the other students were already on the train.[13][14]

Surrounding area

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ishino, Tetsu, ed. (1998). 停車場変遷大辞典 国鉄・JR編 [Station Transition Directory - JNR/JR]. Vol. II. Japan: JTB. p. 918. ISBN 4-533-02980-9.
  2. 1 2 上白滝・旧白滝・下白滝の３駅も廃止 ＪＲ石北線、来年３月に [3 JR Sekihoku Line stations Kami-Shirataki, Kyu-Shirataki, and Shimo-Shirataki to close next March]. Doshin (in Japanese). Japan: The Hokkaido Shimbun Press. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  3. ↑ 根室線花咲など８駅廃止、７９本減便 ＪＲ北海道がダイヤ改正 [JR Hokkaido introduces revised timetable - 8 stations closed and 79 services cut]. Doshin Web (in Japanese). Japan: The Hokkaido Shimbun Press. 26 March 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  4. ↑ 「秘境」北海道・旧白滝駅舎が解体 地元住民が別れ惜しむ [Remote JR Hokkaido Kyu-Shirataki Station demolished - Locals pay their last respects]. Doshin Web (in Japanese). Japan: The Hokkaido Shimbun Press. 18 October 2016. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  5. ↑ "１日１本、次はない冬の北海道、秘境駅から通学する高校生". 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "【旧白滝駅】女子高生1人だけが使っていた秘境駅、卒業と同時に廃止へ". ハフポスト (in Japanese). 5 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "卒業式へ最後の通学 旧白滝駅利用、唯一の乗客". 産経フォト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "[앵커브리핑] 공공을 위한 약속…'기차가 서는 간이역'". news.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "CCTVNews - Forget Harry Potter and platform 9¾ this... | Facebook". Facebook. 27 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  10. ↑ "北の無人駅、さようなら 女子高生の卒業と共に廃止へ：朝日新聞デジタル". 朝日新聞デジタル (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  11. ↑ "Japan runs a special train so that a girl can attend school". YouTube. One India News. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  12. ↑ "Remote Hokkaido train station stays open for one high school girl? Perhaps not". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. 18 October 2016. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Train continues to stop at rural station for lone schoolgirl until she graduates in March". SoraNews24 -Japan News-. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  14. ↑ "The train station and the high school girl: what's the truth?". The Online Citizen Asia. 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
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