Emmaru Katsuragi Railway Station is a railway station situated on the Emmaru Main Line in Enshima, Limaru. It serves as the main railway hub of the Emmaru region, after the closure of Hon-Madokashi station in Emmaru West as there are only two tracks leading out of Hon-Madokashi. Emmaru Katsuragi station is connected to Fukuno Airport station via a link mall, which makes it connected to Fukuno Airport itself through a series of underground passageways.
Trains from Emmaru Katsuragi mainly serve the South Coast Main Line to Takarazaki, however there are also services to Mitakihara via the Northeastern Main Line. Local connections also exist in the form of trains via Pelle Junction station to Lipan. The station also serves the Tozai and Quay Lines, and is also the terminus for trains diverted from Flower Hill station.
History
Katsuragi station was originally only the terminus of the Pelle Electric Railway. The platforms are located at where the Old Pelle Mainline (platforms 8, 9, 10) are nowadays.
In 1950, the first major change with the first iteration of Fukuno Airport was constructed near the station. To accomodate for the influx of passengers, the airport demolished the 1900s station building and constructed an airport terminal which the station building sits. The station was also renamed "Fukuno Airport" to reflect this change. However, Fukuno Airport was never popular, consistently losing out against the larger Lipan Aiport. Therefore, the station name was changed back to Katsuragi in 1976 after the airport handed operations of the station over to LURC.
In 2001, the South Coast Mainline was extended to Katsuragi from Gojo station. This led to an expansion of the platform count to 6, Katsuragi station's change in ownership to Emmaru Railways and the diversion of some Emmaru Main Line services to Katsuragi. Since Hon-Madokashi's capacity was low, with only 4 dead-end tracks, many services terminated at Flower Hill instead, which hogged up platforms. Most services from the South Coast Mainline that terminated at Flower Hill were also moved to Katsuragi.
The Parkston Bay Rail Bridge also started construction around this time, with 4 new tracks constructed at the south side of the station to accomodate services from Lipan. However, these tracks were soon given to FRS instead for their high-speed service to YJJ City, which never materialised, and therefore those tracks sat unused for 20 years.
In 2003 the station's design was changed again due to diminishing airport traffic and increasing train traffic, now to the current design. Since Emmaru Railways had PSDs installed on the underground platforms at Emmaru Central, all mainline trains were routed to Katsuragi and the Parkston Bay Rail Bridge instead.
Platform 1 was removed and a new platform and track at Platform 0 was installed to enable the rare locomotive to shunt around a train without blocking it. In addition, 4 new tracks numbered 30-33 were installed as part of the FRS high speed railway to YJJ City.
Katsuragi would also gain many more shops to attract tourists, while its former office space moved to the renovated smaller Fukuno Airport, which cannot be built bigger due to its location near mountains.
In 2021, the leading tracks to Hon-Madokashi were finally closed, leading to all services being made to terminate at Katsuragi. Katsuragi also received a new station building and more tracks to accomodate the extra trains. A depot was also constructed to house these trains; being previously assigned to the overcrowded Flower Hill Depot.
Layout
Katsuragi station has 15 platforms split into three sections.
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Services
All trains are "down" trains as they are moving further away from the main station (Katsuragi). However, trains via the undersea tunnel will be labelled as "up": Katsuragi is on the Emmaru Main Line, which means that "up" points towards the undersea tunnel.
Platforms 30 to 34 are currently not in service as FRS has gone bankrupt.
| Train Name/Service Name | Direction | Service Remarks | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tozai Line | Down | Local, Express after Progress Monument | 8, 9, 10 |
| Quay Line | Down | Local | 8, 9, 10 |
| Tokaido Line | Down | Express | 2 |
| South Coast Mainline | Down | Express, Local after Toyosato | 3 |
| South Coast Mainline | Down | Express | 2 |
| The Limarusian | Down | Limited Express | 6 |
| The Limarusian | Up | Limited Express | 7 |
| Sakura | Down | Limited Express | 0 |
| Hikari | Up | Limited Express | 6, 7 |