Maebashi Station is the main station for the city of Maebashi, which is the prefectural capital city of Gunma Prefecture. Even though it is the main station of the capital city of Gunma, its lack of important train lines (Such as Shinkansen, Takasaki Line, Joetsu Line) make Takasaki Station the most important station in Gunma Prefecture. In addition, despite being the main station of Maebashi, Chūō Maebashi Station is closer to the city center.
The station consists of two elevated island platforms serving three tracks, with the station building underneath. The station has coin lockers and a Midori no Madoguchi ticket office. It has many accessibility features such as escalators, elevators, mobility scooter access, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, and a Braille fare table.[2]
Maebashi Station was opened by Ryōmō Railway on November 20, 1889. From August 20, 1884, Nippon Railway operated another Maebashi Station on the other side of the Tone River, but this station was closed on December 26, 1889, when a bridge across the river was completed and Nippon Railway trains began sharing the Ryōmō Railway station. Ryōmō Railway was merged into Nippon Railway on January 1, 1897, and Nippon Railway was nationalized on November 1, 1906.[4]
The station started accepting Suica cards on November 18, 2001.[5]
In 2020, the station was renovated under the "Ecoste" model. The goal was to reduce CO2 emissions by 69 tons (roughly 24% from 2016).[1]
In the past, Maebashi was one of the origin stations for the Akagi limited express service to Tokyo's Ueno or Shinjuku stations. However, since 13 March 2021, all Akagi services stop at Takasaki instead of continuing on to Maebashi.
Passenger statistics
In fiscal 2021, the station was used by an average of 7,901 passengers daily (boarding passengers only).[6]
The table below shows passenger statistics since the year 2000: