Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station is served by the Hokkaido Shinkansen between Tokyo or Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto. It used to be served by the Kaikyō Line between Aomori and Hakodate prior to the opening of the Hokkaido Shinkansen. After the beginning of the bullet train services, the Kaikyō Line is normally only used by freight trains.
Station layout
Before the Hokkaido Shinkansen stations were made, Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station had two opposed side platforms serving two tracks. There was no station building, but only a small weather shelter on the platform. The station was unattended.
Although the station is in the middle of the 82 km (51 mi) section shared by the standard-gauge Hokkaido Shinkansen and the-narrow gauge Kaikyō Line, narrow gauge trains use separate tracks (two each) on the both sides of the Shinkansen station so that only bullet trains pass through the passenger platforms.[1]
Okutsugaru-Imabetsu is one of very few stations which is only served by Shinkansen trains, although it is physically connected to Tsugaru-Futamata Station on the JR EastTsugaru Line by an underground passage.
Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station (津軽今別駅, Tsugaru-Imabetsu-eki) on the Kaikyō Line opened on 13 March 1988. From 2002, only the limited expressHakuchō services stopped at this station. According to the 2015 timetable, there were two trains per day in each direction.[2]
The station became a stop on the Hokkaido Shinkansen on 26 March 2016 and was renamed, becoming Okutsugaru-Imabetsu Station.[3] As the work to convert the Tsugaru-Imabetsu Station into the Shinkansen station was in progress, passenger services at the station ceased from 10 August 2015.[2]
Surrounding area
Diagram of Tsugaru-Futamata and Tsugaru-Imabetsu stations
^Hashimoto, Kōichi (May 2016). "北海道新幹線（新青森―新函館北斗間）の設備概要" [Outlines of facilities of the Hokkaido Shinkansen (between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto)]. The Railway Pictorial. No. 917. p. 66.
^ ab海峡線、全列車きょうから津軽今別駅通過 北海道新幹線工事で [All Kaikyo Line trains to pass Tsugaru Imabetsu Station from today for Hokkaido Shinkansen construction]. The Hokkaido Shimbun Press (in Japanese). 10 August 2015. Archived from the original on 10 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
^新幹線駅名「奥津軽いまべつ」 [Shinkansen station to be named Okutsugaru-Imabetsu]. The Tō-Ō Nippō Press (in Japanese). Japan. 11 June 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
