JR-Miyamaki Station (JR三山木駅)
JR-Miyamaki Station, located in Miyamaki Takatobi, Kyotanabe City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a stop on the Katamachi Line, which is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West).
Station layout
JR-Miyamaki Station is an elevated railway stop that has one island platform serving two tracks, thus enabling two trains to pass each other. The platform is only long enough to accommodate a train of up to four cars, but thanks to the construction in preparation for the future, the platform will be long enough to accommodate a train of up to eight cars. Additionally, the platform will be extended in around March of 2010 (the end of fiscal year 2009) to accommodate trains of up to seven cars.
The station is an elevated railway stop, but it has neither an elevator nor an escalator. There is no restroom on the station premises, but a public restroom is provided in front of the station.
The station is unmanned, and the ICOCA and J-Through cards, which are both passenger IC cards available for payment of railway fares, are read by a simplified version of an automatic ticket gate. This machine can't handle multiple J-Through cards simultaneously.
Many bus services start from the bus terminal located in front of JR-Miyamaki Station, and those bus services go for and come back from the Doshisha Kyotanabe Campus, where there are Doshisha University, Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts and Doshisha International Senior High School. Doshisha Kyotanabe Campus is nearer to both from JR Doshishamae Station and Kintetsu Kodo Station than from JR-Miyamaki Station, but bus services don't stop at the aforementioned two stations. Accordingly, JR-Miyamaki Station and Kintetsu Miyamaki Station are regarded as the starting point of the bus service to the Doshisha Kyotanabe Campus by Nara Kotsu Bus Lines Co., Ltd., so special discount commuter coupon tickets are sold to students and the staff of Doshisha to promote the use of the bus.
The space in front of JR-Miyamaki Station is under construction for total refinement, and the bus terminal has already been established between JR-Miyamaki Station and adjacent Kintetsu Miyamaki Station, where the bus services provided by Nara Kotsu Bus Lines Co., Ltd., can make stops.
Platform 1 employs "Issen-through," the system of speeding up the prioritized train of the two trains, which come from both sides of a single track, by limiting the prioritized train's running line to one track of the specially equipped double track in the station; formerly, every train whether inbound service or outbound service, arrived at and departed from Platform 1 except when letting another train go first. However, with the timetable change in fiscal year 2007, most trains for Kizu Station arrive at and depart from Platform 2 during the daytime because two trains pass each other here at JR-Miyamaki Station, and at night all trains for Kizu Station arrive at and depart from Platform 2; therefore, it's only in the morning that trains for Kizu Station arrive at and depart from Platform 1.
Station surroundings
Miyamaki Station - Kintetsu Kyoto Line
Kyotanabe City Miyamaki Elementary School
Tanabe Miyamaki post office
Wel Sunpia KYOTO
Kyotanabe Campus of Doshisha University
Yawata-Kizu Line of Kyoto Prefectural Route 22
Ikoma-Ide Line of Nara and Kyoto Prefectural Route 65
Passenger use
The number of passengers who used this station was approximately 425 a day in fiscal year 2006 (according to the Kyoto Prefecture Statistics Report). It was the least used of all stations on the Katamachi Line.
Origin of the station's name
The station name "Miyamaki" originates from its location, and "JR" is attached to distinguish it from Miyamaki Station on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line, which is located on the opposite side of JR-Miyamaki Station.
History
December 1, 1952: The stop opened as "Kamitanabe Station." It was an unmanned stop that had a single platform serving a track.
April 1, 1987: The station became a JR West stop due to the division and privatization of JNR.
March 8, 1997: The station was renamed "JR-Miyamaki Station."
March 16, 2002: The station was moved 200 meters in the direction of Kizu and was converted into an elevated railway stop. And at the same time, the station was equipped with one island platform with two tracks, which enables two trains to pass each other.
Adjacent stations
West Japan Railway Company (JR West)
Gakkentoshi Line (Katamachi Line)
Rapid/Regional Rapid/Local (The Regional Rapid is for the outbound service only.)
Shimokoma Station - JR-Miyamaki Station - Doshishamae Station