Yawatahama Station is served by the JR Shikoku Yosan Line and is located 262.8 km from the beginning of the line at Takamatsu.[3] Eastbound local trains which serve the station terminate at Matsuyama. Connections with other services are needed to travel further east of Matsuyama on the line.[4]
In addition, the Uwakai limited express also stops at the station.[4]
Layout
The station consists of an island platform and a side platform serving three tracks. Access to the island platform is by means of a footbridge. The station building houses a waiting room, shops, a JR ticket window (Midori no Madoguchi facility) and a JR Travel Centre (Warp Plaza). Car parking and car rental is available at the station. There is a passing loop between tracks 2 and 3, in between the side and island platform and several sidings are located south of the station beyond track 3.[2][5][6][3]
A view of the station platforms and tracks. A passing loop can be seen on the right, between the two platforms. Sidings can be seen branching to the left beyond the island platform.
Yawatahama Station was opened on 6 February 1939 as the western terminus of the then Yosan Mainline which had been extended westwards from Iyo-Hirano. It became a through-station on 20 June 1945 when the track of the Yosan Mainline linked up with the track of the then Uwajima Line at Unomachi, allowing through-traffic from Takamatsu to Uwajima. At that time, the station was operated by Japanese Government Railways (JGR), later becoming Japanese National Railways (JNR). With the privatization of JNR on 1 April 1987, control of the station passed to JR Shikoku.[7][8]
^ ab"八幡浜" [Yawatahama]. hacchi-no-he.net. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
^ abKawashima, Ryōzō (2013). 図説: 日本の鉄道 四国・九州ライン 全線・全駅・全配線・第2巻 四国西部エリア [Japan Railways Illustrated. Shikoku and Kyushu. All lines, all stations, all track layouts. Volume 2 Western Shikoku] (in Japanese). Kodansha. pp. 30, 70. ISBN9784062951616.