Sonoda station (園田駅, Sonoda-ekii, station number: HK-05) is a passenger railway station located in the city of AmagasakiHyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the private transportation company Hankyu Railway.[1] Although technically situated in Amagasaki, it is a five-minute walk to neighboring Osaka Prefecture.
The station consists of two elevated island platforms serving four tracks and a single unnumbered side platform outside the inbound siding track. Normally, only the island platform is used, and the single platform is a 'temporary platform' for getting off, which was mainly used when the Sonoda horse race is held.
The station was transformed from a surface-level station to an elevated station in 1980. Work took 2 years to complete.[3]
Station numbering was introduced on 21 December 2013, with Sonoda being designated as station number HK-05.[4]
Passenger statistics
In fiscal year 2019, the station was used by an average of 38,241 passengers daily.[5]
Surrounding area
Below the station itself exists a small shopping centre called Sonoda Hankyu Plaza (園田阪急プラザ) which undertook a major renovation completed at the end of April 2006. It now consists of many restaurants, a Matsumoto Kiyoshi pharmacy, a Mister Donut, a branch of the Kohyo chain of supermarket, a Docomo mobile phone shop as well as various smaller retailers.
^兵庫の鉄道全駅 JR・三セク [All stations in Hyogo Prefecture] (in Japanese). Kobe Shimbun Shuppan Center. 2011. ISBN978-4-343-00602-8.
^曽根, 悟 (October 2010). "週刊 歴史でめぐる鉄道全路線 大手私鉄" [Weekly History of all Railway Lines: Major private railways]. Weekly Asahi Encyclopedia (in Japanese). 12 (Hanshin Electric Railway Hankyu Electric Railway 2): 27–29. ISBN978-4-02-340142-6.
^兵庫の鉄道全駅 私鉄・公営鉄道 [All railway stations in Hyogo Private railways and public railways] (in Japanese). Japan: Kobe Newspaper General Publishing Center. 2012. ISBN9784343006745.
^"「西山天王山」駅開業にあわせて、「三宮」「服部」「中山」「松尾」4駅の駅名を変更し、全駅で駅ナンバリングを導入します" ["Sannomiya" "Hattori" "Nakayama" "Matsuo" along with the opening of "Nishiyama Tennozan" station. We will change the station names of 4 stations and introduce station numbering at all stations.] (PDF). Hankyu Corporation Online. 30 April 2013. Archived from the original(PDF) on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
^養父市統計書 [Hyogo Prefecture Statistical Yearbook] (in Japanese). Japan: Hyogo Prefecture. 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.