Keihan-Yamashina Station (京阪山科駅)
Keihan-Yamashina Station, located in Anshu-sajiki-cho, Yamashina Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a stop on the Keishin Line, which is operated by Keihan Electric Railway.
Station layout
Situated on the ground level, it's provided with two separate platforms serving two tracks between them. The station house (entrance/exit gates) is located on the Hamaotsu side of both platforms (one for the inbound trains and the other for the outbound trains), so a railroad crossing within the premises must be used to move between the platforms.
In the past, other tracks, used to allow the Keihan model 60 electric cars to run through this station even when the ordinary track of the station was occupied by another train, were provided as well.
As at other stations on the Keishin Line, no train ticket for a station on the Keihan Main Line or the Oto Line (for example, for Keihan Shijo Station) can be bought at this station. However, tickets for stations on the subway lines, such as Marutamachi Station and Shijo Station, can be bought here, and therefore a warning to prevent the purchase of the wrong ticket is displayed.
A terminal for the buses of Keihan Bus Co., Ltd., is located just in front of this station, providing transportation for persons living in various areas of Yamashina as well as for the Daigo/Rokujizo areas. In the past, the terminal was located in a very narrow space north of the Keihan Line and south of the JR station, but it has been moved to the present place corresponding to the area's redevelopment.
* The platform length was initially for a one-car train but it was extended for two-car trains and then further extended to the west for four-car trains when the subway Tozai Line started its operations. No track number has been set as guidance for station users.
Passenger use
The average daily number, as of November 2003, was 4,605 persons.
Station surroundings
Yamashina Station on the JR Tokaido Main Line and JR Kosei Line, as well as that on the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tozai Line, are located within walking distance of this station.
The former Sanjo-dori Street (of the former Tokai-do Road)
Sanjo-dori Street and the Kyoto Outer Loop Expressway
The Kyoto Yamashina Takehana post office (the post office in Takehana, Yamashina Ward, Kyoto Prefecture)
Kyoto Prefectural Rakutoh High School
Kyoto Pharmaceutical University
Racto Yamashina (a complex that includes the Yamashina Daimaru store, specialty shops, public facilities and living quarters)
The first Lake Biwa canal
Buses on regular routes
Keihan Bus
Route 19: Bound for Kawaramachi Station (Kyoto Prefecture)
Route 20: Bound for Koyama
Route 21: Bound for Oyake
Route 22: Bound for Keihan Rokujizo Station
Route 24: Bound for Ishida
Route 22: Bound for Keihan Rokujizo Station
Route 24A: Bound for Ishida
Route 26: Bound for Oyake
Route 26A: Bound for Kyoto Tachibana University
Route 28A: Bound for Kyoto Tachibana University (rapid buses)
Route 29: Bound for Oyake via the Kiyomizuyaki-danchi and Nishinoyama-danchi housing complexes
Route 45: Bound for Fujio and Koganezuka
Route 47: Bound for Nishiotsu Station (the name of this bus stop was to become Otsukyo Station in mid-April 2008).
Route 48: Bound for Fujio and Koganezuka
Kururi 200: Bound for the Yamashina integrated ward office
Express buses
Hokuriku Highway Bus: Bound for Kanazawa
The Tokyo Midnight Express Uji-go bus: Bound for Shibuya and Shinjuku
Bound for Ueno, Tokyo Disney Resort and Chiba
History
August 15, 1912: The operation of this station started as Bishamondo Station when Keishin Electric Tramway started running between Furukawacho (later Higashiyama Sanjo) and Fudanotsuji (the use of this station was later discontinued).
August 13, 1921: The facility's name was changed to Yamashinaeki-mae Station.
February 1, 1925: The companies concerned merged, and this station became a facility on the Keishin Line, which was operated by Keihan Electric Railway.
April 17, 1934: With sidetracks added, the station layout was changed to that of two island platforms serving four tracks, thus enabling connections at this station between a local train and another, higher-class train.
October 1, 1943: The companies concerned merged, and this station became a station of Keihanshin Express Electric Railway.
December 1, 1949: Due to the separation of the company, it again became a station of Keihan Electric Railway.
April 1, 1953: Its name was changed to Keihan-Yamashina Station.
August 20, 1955: An east entrance/exit gate was provided on the side of the Japan National Railways.
1973: The station layout was changed from two island platforms serving four tracks to two opposite platforms with two tracks served between them.
August 15, 1977: The first automatic ticket vending machines on the Otsu Line were introduced in this station.
1996: The station house was reformed in preparation for the opening of the subway's Tozai Line, whereby the entrance/exit gate area on the east side was renovated and the effective length of the platforms was extended from that for two-car trains to that for four-car trains, because it was scheduled that the use of four-car trains would soon start.
January 15, 2002: The use of automatic ticket checking machines started.
The last as well as first train that started at Hamaotsu for Keihan-Yamashina.
On October 11, 1997, trains were last operated in the 3.9-km section between Keishin Sanjo and Misasagi. After the last train (a sub-express bound for Hamaotsu) departed from Keishin-Sanjo at 22:14, track-switching work was conducted between Misasagi and Keishin-Yamashina, with alternative transportation means provided for the section by Keihan Bus. Between Keihan-Yamashina and Hamaotsu, railway-using transportation was secured through the use of train cars from the model 600 and 260 train cars.
At that time, no destination display board for 'Keihan-Yamashina' was available for the model 600 train cars, so the trains were operated with a destination display board that read 'Hamaotsu/Keihan-Yamashina.'
Consequently, this operation was the last one for the model 260 train cars and a new final destination display board was provided on the last occasion. After the last train was run on this day, the model 600 trains cars were sent to the Nishigori-shako Depot so that they could be prepared for 1500V operation, and the model 260 train cars to Kujoyama were to be kept there until the time of their disassembly.
Adjacent stations
Keihan Electric Railway
Keishin Line
Misasagi Station - Keihan-Yamashina Station - Shinomiya Station
The through service and fare problems related to two Yamashina stations
Causes
The operation of the Keishin Line of Keihan Electric Railway and that of the Tozai Line of Kyoto Municipal Subway overlap between Sanjo (Keihan Sanjo) and Keihan-Yamashina; initially it was planned that the operation between Sanjo and Keihan-Yamashina on the Keishin Line would be discontinued and Keihan trains should run into the Tozai Line at Keihan-Yamashina, but it was deemed physically impossible to execute the plan, mainly because of the linearity problem of the Tozai Line (the Tozai Line was laid along the Kyoto Outer Loop Expressway in the north-south direction, and the Keishin Line of Keihan Electric Railway and the Tozai Line of Kyoto Municipal Subway were to cross one another at right angles), and therefore it was decided that the Keihan trains would run into the Tozai Line at Misasagi.
When going to a station in the central area of Kyoto, one must pay both the fare for the Keihan Line section and that for the Tozai Line section if one wants to use Keihan-Yamashina Station, but one should pay only the fare for the Tozai Line if using Yamashina Station on the subway line. Naturally, the fare of the latter case is less than the total fare of the former case, but many people use Keihan-Yamashina Station because the platforms are provided on the ground level and are more comfortable to use.
The same problem also exists when going to the Yamashina area from the central area of Kyoto City. Some users aren't aware of this situation, and it sometimes happens that, when going to get off at Keihan-Yamashina Station, such a user is stopped by a station officer and has to pay an additional fare after hearing an explanation by the officer. To avoid such a case from occurring, fare-related announcements are made within the train cars when Keihan trains depart from their starting stations and immediately before they arrive at Misasagi Station where they enter the Keishin Line.
Before the subway line started its operation, discussions to solve this fare problem were held between Keihan Electric Railway and Kyoto City, but the city side made no concession so no agreement was reached.
Similar problems exist on another Kyoto Municipal Subway line: between Takeda Station (Kyoto Prefecture) and Kyoto Station, either the Karasuma Line of Kyoto Municipal Subway or the Kintetsu Kyoto Line which runs directly into the subway line via Takeda Station, is available, but their fares are different (in this case, the fare for the subway line is costly and fare-related announcements are made within the trains cars operated by the subway).