Namikawa Station (並河駅)
Namikawa Station, located in Tsuchida, Oi-cho of Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a stop on the San'in Main Line (Sagano Line) of West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The station-name telegraph code is 'FUCHINAMI' (code is denoted in Katakana).
The ICOCA and J-Thru cards can be used (refer to the ICOCA paragraph for details on mutually usable IC cards). However, simple-type automated ticket gates can't handle the use of more than one J-Thru Card for a single transaction.
Station layout
It is an aboveground station with two platforms opposite each other and double tracks and at which trains can either pass each other or allow the other to overtake. The station building is on the side of Platform 2, and opposite Platform 1 is connected by a passenger overpass. Operations are commissioned to JR West Japan Transportation Service Co., Ltd.; the station is unmanned during the late-night and early-morning hours.
An underground passage named 'Namikawa Creative Underground Walkway' links the eastern and western sides of the station.
As Platform 2 on the side of the station building is the thoroughfare, trains that pass without stopping and trains that stop and do not pass each other or pass others, whether inbound or outbound, all go through Platform 2.
A train, regardless of whether it is inbound or outbound, when stopping at this station to allow a nonstop train coming in from the opposite direction to pass it, does so on Platform 1.
When trains stop and pass each other at this station, the train heading toward Kyoto (inbound) comes in on Platform 1 and the train heading toward Sonobe (outbound) uses Platform 2.
Usage status
The number of passengers boarding at this station came to approximately 2,995 per day in fiscal year 2006.
(Source: Kyoto Prefecture Statistical Report)
Kameoka City is gradually becoming a satellite town for commuters to central Kyoto, and the number of passengers getting on and off at this station continues to increase.
Station surroundings
Kameoka Municipal Taisei Junior High School
Kameoka Municipal Oi Elementary School
National Route 9 (San'in-do)
Oi Interchange -- 900 m to the west
Matsumoto Oi Branch (Kyoto Prefecture)
Midori Denka Co., Ltd., Kameoka Branch
Kyoto Agricultural Cooperative Kameoka-Oi Branch Office
Oi Postal Agency
History
July 20, 1935: The station was inaugurated as a Japan National Railways station. Only passenger-traffic was handled.
April 1, 1987: The station became a JR West station by the split privatization of Japan National Railways.
March 11, 1989: Station relocated some 120 m north of its original site, upgraded from a single platform single-track station to a dual platform double-track station.
Even some local trains had to pass this station without stopping during certain time zones when it was a so-called bar line station with no side or refuge track (circumstances were the same at Yoshitomi Station, Takatsu Station and Fuchigaki Station, all of which are located in Kyoto Prefecture).
The place where the former station building once stood is now the site of the Railway Historical Park and a JNR model DD51 diesel locomotive, and a portion of the front pilot containing the motorman's seat of Shinkansen's 0 series model 22, No. 1003 has been installed and are on display in the park.
Neighboring stations
West Japan Railway Company (JR West)
■Sagano Line (San'in Main Line)
■Rapid Service/■Local
Kameoka Station - Namikawa Station - Chiyokawa Station