The station is served by the Karatsu Line and is located 26.0 km from the starting point of the line at Kubota.[3]
Station layout
The station consists of two unnumbered side platforms serving two tracks. It had originally been a side and an island platform but the centre track has been removed. A station building also doubles as a community hall. Access to the opposite side platform is by means of a footbridge. The station is unstaffed but a kan'i itaku agent sells some types of tickets from the ticket window in the station building.[2][3][4]
Access to platform from the station building. On the right can be seen the track bed for the former centre track. Far right is the other platform.
View of the other side platform, accessed from the station building by a footbridge.
History
On 1 December 1898, the Karatsu Kogyo Railway had opened a track from Miyoken (now Nishi-Karatsu) to Yamamoto. On 13 June 1899, the track was extended to Kyūragi with Ōchi opening on the same day as an intermediate station on the track. On 23 February 1902, the company, now renamed the Karatsu Railway, merged with the Kyushu Railway. When the Kyushu Railway was nationalized on 1 July 1907, Japanese Government Railways (JGR) took over control of the station. On 12 October 1909, the line which served the station was designated the Karatsu 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 84,066 boarding passengers, giving a daily average of 230 passengers.[7]
^ ab"相知駅" [Ōchi]. hacchi-no-he.net. Retrieved 10 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. 15, 81. ISBN9784062951647.
^"相知駅" [Ōchi Station]. jr-mars.dyndns.org. Retrieved 10 March 2018. See images of tickets sold.
^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. 223–4. 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. 720. 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.