The station is served by the Nagasaki Main Line and is located 44.7 km from the starting point of the line at Tosu.[3]
Station layout
The station consists of two side platforms serving two tracks with a siding running along the other side of platform 2. The station building, a modern structure of steel frame and glass, is unstaffed and serves only as a waiting room. Access to the opposite side platform is by means of a footbridge.[3][2]
Japanese Government Railways (JGR) built the station in the 1930s during the development of an alternative route for the Nagasaki Main Line along the coast of the Ariake Sea which was at first known as the Ariake Line. In the first phase of construction, the track was extended south from Hizen-Yamaguchi with Hizen-Ryūō opening on 9 March 1930 as the southern terminus. Hizen-Shiroishi, then named Fukuji (福治) was opened on the same day as an intermediate station on the new track. On 1 December 1934, the entire route was completed and through-traffic achieved from Hizen-Yamaguchi through the station to Nagasaki. The line was then redesignated as part of the Nagasaki Main Line. On 1 April 1940, the station was renamed Hizen-Shiroishi. With the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, control of the station passed to JR Kyushu.[4][5]
On 15 October 2016, a new station building was opened. The old building had to make way for the widening of a prefectural road and has been demolished.[6]
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2020, the station was used by an average of 649 passengers daily (boarding passengers only), and it ranked 191st among the busiest stations of JR Kyushu.[7]
Longest one-way rail ticket in Japan
From April 1, 1988, to April 30, 1989, this station, along with the Sasebo Line'sŌmachi Station, was the starting point from which one could purchase the longest one-way ticket in Japan.
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