Nebukawa Station, a tragic story

Nebukawa Station (根府川駅 Nebukawa-eki) is a railway station on the Tokaido Main Line of East Japan Railway Company in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. The station is 90.4 rail kilometeres from Tokyo Station.

Nebukawa Station first opened on December 21, 1922, when the section of the Atami-Odawara Line connecting Odawara with Manazuru was completed.

During the Great Kanto earthquake, at three minutes before noon on September 1, 1923, the local train of the Atami-Odawara Line was travelling south towards Manazuru and was stopped at Nebukawa Station. The earthquake caused a mudslide, which covered the station, sweeping the station building, platforms, and train into the ocean, 45 meters down the slope on which the station was built. The Type 960 locomotive and the first 7 cars in the train were submerged, with only the 8th car remaining above water. The train disaster killed 112 people, with an additional 200 people living in the close vicinity of the station also killed by the landslide. The wreck of the train and tracks were salvaged in September 1932 for scrap metal. The Tokyo-bound train on the same line was stopped in the middle of the bridge over the Nebukawa River just before the station, and was overwhelmed by a 35-foot tsunami, which swept the locomotive into the sea, killing six people.

From December 1, 1934 the Odawara-Atami Line became part of the re-routed Tοkaidο Main Line following the opening of the Tanna Tunnel. Regularly scheduled freight services were discontinued in 1970, and small parcel services by 1972. With the dissolution and privatization of the JNR on April 1, 1987, the station came under the control of the East Japan Railway Company. Automated turnstiles using the Suica IC Card system came into operation from November 18, 2001. The “Green Window” service counter was discontinued from 2002.
Text from wikipedia.

 

Photos: Junko Nagata © Japanbyweb.com