The new JR Nagahama Station opened its doors on Oct. 14, 2006. The new station building has a retro look based on the very first Nagahama Station building which is now preserved as a nearby museum called Nagahama Railroad Square.

This month, the JR Hokuriku Main Line switched to direct-current electrification between Nagahama Station and Tsuruga Station (Fukui), enabling faster shin-kaisoku trains to reach Shiga’s Hokuriku Line train stations (Torahime, Kawake, Takatsuki, Kinomoto, Yogo, Omi-Shiotsu Stations) directly from Kyoto. Before the switch, passengers had to transfer trains at Nagahama Station to go beyond Nagahama.

Besides Nagahama Station, most of the other Hokuriku Line train stations in Shiga also rebuilt their train station buildings, anticipating an increase of visitors.