The station is served by the Chikuhi Line and is located 37.5 km from the starting point of the line at Meinohama.[3] Only local services on the Chikuhi Line stop at this station.[4]
Station layout
The station consists of a side platform serving a single track. The station building is a simple wooden shed of traditional Japanese design with a tiled roof. It is unstaffed and serves to only to house a waiting room and an automatic ticket machine.[3][2]
A view of the station platform and track.
Approach road. The station is set within the Nijinomatsubara pine forest.
History
The private Kitakyushu Railway had opened a line between Fukuyoshi and Hamasaki on 5 December 1923. On 7 July 1924, the line was extended westwards with Nijinomatsubara opening as its new western terminus. Nijinomatsubara became a through-station on 15 June 1925 when the line was extended to Higashi-Karatsu. When the Kitakyushu Railway was nationalized on 1 October 1937, Japanese Government Railways (JGR) took over control of the station. On the same day, the station name was in Japanese characters was changed from 虹の松原駅 to 虹ノ松原駅, a switch of the second character from hiragana to katakana, with no change in reading or transliteration. The line which served the station was designated the Chikuhi Line. With the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, control of the station passed to JR Kyushu.[5][6]
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2015, there were a total of 56,268 boarding passengers, giving a daily average of 154 passengers.[7]
^ ab"虹ノ松原" [Nijinomatsubara]. hacchi-no-he.net. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
^ abKawashima, Ryōzō (2013). 図説: 日本の鉄道 四国・九州ライン 全線・全駅・全配線・第5巻 長崎 佐賀 エリア [Japan Railways Illustrated. Shikoku and Kyushu. All lines, all stations, all track layouts. Volume 5 Nagasaki Saga area] (in Japanese). Kodansha. pp. 10, 78. ISBN9784062951647.
^"虹ノ松原駅" [Nijinomatsubara]. JR Kyushu official station website. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
^Ishino, Tetsu; et al., eds. (1998). 停車場変遷大事典 国鉄・JR編 [Station Transition Directory – JNR/JR] (in Japanese). Vol. I. Tokyo: JTB Corporation. pp. 224–5. ISBN4-533-02980-9.
^Ishino, Tetsu; et al., eds. (1998). 停車場変遷大事典 国鉄・JR編 [Station Transition Directory – JNR/JR] (in Japanese). Vol. II. Tokyo: JTB Corporation. p. 725. ISBN4-533-02980-9.
^"佐賀県統計年鑑（平成28年版）" [Saga Prefecture Statistics Yearbook 2016 Edition]. Saga Prefectural Government website. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018. See table 12-7 at section under Transportation and Communications.
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