Naoetsu Station (直江津駅, Naoetsu-eki) is a railway station in the city of Jōetsu, Niigata, Japan, jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the third-sector railway operator Echigo Tokimeki Railway.
Naoetsu Station is served by the JR East Shinetsu Main Line, and is a terminus for the line, whose tracks are shared by the Hokuetsu Express Hokuhoku Line. The station also is served by the Echigo Tokimeki Railway Myōkō Haneuma Line and is located 37.7 kilometers from the starting point of the line at Myōkō-Kōgen and 75.0 kilometers from Nagano. On the Nihonkai Hisui Line, it is located 59.3 kilometers from the starting point of the line at Ichiburi and 353.8 kilometers from Maibara.
The station has three island platforms with an elevated station building. The station has a Midori no Madoguchi staffed ticket office.
Naoetsu Station opened on 15 August 1886.[2] With the privatization of JNR on 1 April 1987, the station came under the joint control of JR East and JR West.[2]
From 14 March 2015, with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano to Kanazawa, local passenger operations over sections of the Shinetsu Main Line and Hokuriku Main Line running roughly parallel to the new shinkansen line were reassigned to third-sector railway operating companies.[3] From this date, Naoetsu Station became a boundary station between the Myōkō Haneuma Line (former JR East Shinetsu Main Line) and the Nihonkai Hisui Line (former JR West Hokuriku Main Line) of the Niigata-owned Echigo Tokimeki Railway Company.[3]
In fiscal 2017, the Myōkō Haneuma Line portion of the station was used by an average of 1,516 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).[4] In fiscal 2017, the JR portion of the station was used by an average of 2,203 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).[5]
