Misato Station

美里站

Misato Station

General Information

Location	1552 ~ 31943
Owned by	Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu)
Operated by	Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) Misato Rapid Transit Kabuki Kaisha (MRT Corp) Lamtsu Rapid Transit Kabuki Kaisha (LRT Corp)
Line(s)	Yamate Line Mihara Line Ome Line Namboku Line Sakuho Line Ome Heritage Line Vtuber Park Line (Up to 2022 February)
Platforms	13
Tracks	13
Connections	MRT Misato Station Misato Light Rail Stop

Structure Type	At-Grade+Elevated
Platform Levels	3
Disabled Access	No

Station Code	MS

Opened	30 June 1947 (Initial Opening) 1st May 2022 (Heritage Platforms) 30 June 2022 (Full Reopening)
Closed	31st Jan 2022 (Reconstruction)

Misato Station is a HRT (Lamtsu) station in Misato City, Lamtsu Capital City, Hon Kwong Province, Federation of Sorano. It forms the city's main rail terminal in the north.

Although it is only officially served by the Mihara, Namboku, Yamate and Ome Lines, Misato is the starting point for most of the major Limited Express trains to and from Lamtsu, as well as being a station on the Sakuho-Kujukuri Line. It is also the de facto terminus of the Mihara Line (local), and Yamate Line trains officially start and end their service here.

SMRT Misato Station (Kansai Main Line, Sakuho Line), Misato Central Light Rail Station (Misato City Tram) and Sora Station (Heritage Ome Line) are directly connected to Misato Station, with the 3 stations together expected to average similar numbers to the original. The Misato Bus Terminal used to operate opposite the Station until the bankruptcy of Misato City Railway, after which bus services stopped operating in Lamtsu.

The Station was the most important station in the HRT Network in Lamtsu, being the primary terminus for long-distance lines to Joban and South-East Sorano, although this role has diminished somewhat with the opening of the Shinkansen Lines at Lamtsu station. It was also the 3nd busiest Station in the Joban-Sorano Region, with more than 700,000 commuters using the station in June 2016 (boarding passengers only)

Misato Station used to be adjacent to Misato Frieght Terminal, adjacent to the Station and connected to the Misato Frieght Line, Ome Line and Mihara Line. The station was demolished in 2022 to make way for the Misato Central Mall.

The station was closed for reconstruction after the HRT (Lamtsu) scandals that followed the 2022 Sora train wreck, with many of the Main Lines being rerouted away from the station and the Kansai Main Line being split off to the MRT Corporation.

General Information

Lines

Yamate Line

Mihara Line

Ome Line

Namboku Line

Ome Heritage Line

More Lines can be found at MRT Misato Station across the street.

Station Layout

Misato Station is elevated above street level, on the second floor of the station complex. There are 8 exits, split between 2 concourses. Exits A through D are located on the concourse on the ground floor, and generally are used for normal entry and exit. These sets of gates are referred to as the Misato Gates by locals and staff, although they are officially referred to as the Ground Level Gates. Exits E through G are located on the Bridge Concourse, and the exit gates here are similarly named the Bridge gates. These sets of gates (excluding exit E) are usually used to transfer to the SMRT Station, be it for the Misato City Tram or the Kansai Main Line. The Sakuho Gates at exit H lead directly to the stairs for the Sakuho Line platforms. Officially part of SMRT Misato Station, this stop does not show up more than once on the MRT maps despite it stopping twice. Proposals have been made to expand the Bridge Concourse to a second platform level, to accommodate future North-South traffic with the proposed Lamtsu-Misato Line, which is a viaduct over the existing six-track section.

Platforms and Tracks are on the first floor. The initial plans called for 6 island platforms serving 12 tracks, but with the rerouting of the Vtuber Park Line to Kimotsuki, this was later reverted to 5. The previous Misato Station Public Carpark was demolished to make was for the Misato Central Mall, which is located on the left of the station. All platforms offer through services excluding the Ome Line platforms, which terminate here. A proposal has been made to build new tracks for the Ome Line using viaducts so that they could be straighter, from Misato to Mihara, to run express services.

Under Construction

The Lamtsu-Mihara Viaduct is the planned construction of a viaduct that would link the stations of Lamtsu, Misato and Mihara with newly built straight track that would facilitate limited express services from the north and south. The proposal was approved, abeit with slight modifications to the initial stage. The Ome Line will use the viaduct from Misato to Mihara in the first stage to run Ome Liner services at 160km/h, the fastest service in the region. No changes will be made to the existing Ome Line plans, which will utilise the old Misato Frieght Line tracks for the current plan.

Exits

• A: Misato Central Mall
• B: Misato Central Plaza
• C: Misato High Street
• D: Ome Railway Museum
• E: Misato Central Mall Level 4
• F: Opposite Misato Station
• G: SMRT Misato Station
• H: Sakuho Exit

Passenger Statistics

In 2020, 745,872 commuters used the station daily on average, making it the busiest station in the Harmony Rail Transit (Lamtsu) Network. It is estimated that this figure will decline significantly after the rebuild.

Passenger Statistics

Fiscal Year	Passenger Number
2013	687,109
2014	693,092
2015	699,867
2016	702,345
2017	713,298
2018	724,983
2019	737,182
2020	745,872
2021	752,127
2022 (projection)	503,198

Platforms

Harmony Rail Transit

The HRT platforms are all located on the first floor, with all of them being Island platforms. Escalator and Stair access is available, although Lifts for disabled access have been planned.

HRT Platforms

L1
1	Mihara Line (Express)	For Mihara
	Mihara Line (Suburban)	For Mihara, Hayakawa
	Limited Express ''Tsuwano''	For Tsuwano Sports Hub
2	Mihara Line(Express)	For Lamtsu, Yamate
	Mihara Line (Suburban)	For Lamtsu
3	Mihara Line (Local)	For Sasaguri, Mihara, Tai Hing Forest
	Mihara Line (Rapid)	For Mihara, Otaki, Hakone
4	Mihara Line(Local)	For Lamtsu
	Mihara Line (Rapid)	For Hakone, Tai Hing Forest
5	Namboku Line	For Fukaaura, Hayakawa
	Namboku Line (Ome Line Through Service)	For Hayakawa, Kusu
6	Namboku Line	For Lamtsu, Meguro
7	Yamate Line	Soto-Mawari for Nakagawa, Otaki, Lamtsu
8	Yamate Line	Uchi-Mawari for Lamtsu, Otaki, Hikawa
9	Ome Line	For Shirakao, Hayakawa, Kusu
	Ome Line (Rapid)	For Shirakao, Mihara, Hayakawa
	Limited Express Hakone	For Hakone
	Limited Express Sunrise Yamagawa	For Ome
10	Limited Express Ome Liner	For Hayakawa, Ome
	Limited Express Tokiwa	For Ome, Central South
	Limited Express Shimakaze	For Ome, Sung Tak

Limited Express Trains

For the Mihara Line

Limited Express Hakone (Misato-Hakone)

Limited Express Tsuwano (Lamtsu-Misato-Tsuwano Stadium)

For the Ome Line

Commuter Limited Express Ome Liner (Misato-Mihara-Hayakawa-Ome)

Limited Express Tokiwa (Misato-Mihara-Ome-Central South)

Limited Express Shimakaze (Misato-Ome-Sung Tak)

Limited Express Sunrise Yamagawa (See Article)

Misato Rapid Transit

The Sakuho Line platforms under Misato Station are located in the centre of the station.

MRT Platforms

B1
11	Sakuho Line for MRT Misato Station, Kamiyama
12	Sakuho Line for Moseushi

Adjacent Stations

Adjacent Stations for Misato Station

«		Service	»
		Mihara Line
Lamtsu		Mihara Line Local		Sasaguri
Lamtsu		Mihara Line Rapid		Tsuwano
Lamtsu		Mihara Line Express		Mihara
Lamtsu		Mihara Line Suburban		Mihara
Terminus		Limited Express Hakone		Hakone
Lamtsu		Limited Express Tsuwano		Tsuwano Sports Hub
		Namboku Line
Kimotsuki		Namboku Line		Nyuzen
Kimotsuki		Namboku Line (Ome)		Nyuzen
		Yamate Line
Kimotsuki		Yamate Line		Hikawa
		Ome Line
Shirakao		Ome Line (Urban)		Terminus
Shirakao		Ome Line (Rapid)		Terminus
Terminus		Limited Express Ome Liner		Mihara
Terminus		Limited Express Tokiwa		Ome
Terminus		Limited Express Shimakaze		Ome
Tai Hing Forest		Sunrise Yamagawa		Mihara
		Sakuho Line
Moseushi		Sakuho Line		Goka

Departure Melodies

Misato Station was the first station in the district of Joban to use Departure Melodies, and still is the only station that uses them to this day. Departure Melodies have not yet been confirmed for the new station.

Departure Melodies (Pre 2022)

Service	Platform Number	Tune Name	Tune	Score	Details
Ome Line(Local)	1	HRT-LT1(a)
Ome Line (Rapid)	2	HRT-LT1(b)
Ome Line (Urban)	3	HRT-LT1(c)
Vtuber Park Line	4	Sky High			This tune would only play once before departure instead of twice.
Ai Liner	5	Hello Morning			This tune would only play once before departure instead of twice.
Limited Express Hakone	6	A Hakone Folk Tune			This tune would only play once before departure instead of twice.
Limited Express Ome Liner	7	HRT-LT2
Kansai Main Line	8-10	HRT-LT3
Mihara Line(Express) Mihara Line(Suburban)	11,12,17,18	HRT-LT4(b)
Namboku Line	13,16	HRT-LT5
Mihara Line(Local)	14,15	HRT-LT4(a)
[Yamate Line]	19,20	HRT-LT7
Sakuho Line |21,22	HRT-LT6

History and Technical Details

History

Conception

Misato Station was originally conceived as the terminus of the Yamate Line in 1946. However, pressure from the local government forced the extension of the Line to Hikawa, delaying its opening by a year. The original station was constructed at-grade, with the Yamate Line platforms adjacent to Misato Hill.

Further Expansion

With the opening of the Namboku Line in 1968 and the Completion of the Kujukuri-Sakuho Line in 1975, Misato Station replaced Lamtsu station as the de facto primary interchange. however, Misato City Railway maintained that Lamstu station was the main terminus, making it the de jure interchange and therefore received the bulk of the funding. This resulted in the infrastructure of Misato Station being very lacking.

Subsequent platforms were built on a separate station building and elevated, for the terminating 4-car lines on ground level. However, the lack of funding and the prohibitive land costs in Misato prompted the platform width to be reduced from the 10m standard on the Yamate Line to 5 metres for the elevated platforms. By 2015, Misato Station was severely overcrowded, with reports of suffocations due to lack of platform space being not uncommon. This was further exasperated due to the cross-platform transfers between the Mihara and Namboku lines, where crowds of passengers would often crush each other in an attempt to squeeze onto the trains. By this time, almost every line would pass through or terminate at Misato, excluding the Tozai Line and the Chuo Main Line. As the Chuo Main Line was built by HRT and not Misato City Railway (Now MRT), the Line was prohibited from cutting across the Yamate Line and the decision was made for it to terminate at Otaki, with some services continuing to Fukaaura.

2022 Sora Train Wreck

The 2022 Sora Train wreck was the worst train accident in all of Sorano, with 78 fatalities and more than 600 injured. The train involved was a Ome Liner limited express on the stretch between Sora and Misato.

Preliminary investigations show that the train was travelling at 120km/h over a 60km/h stretch, and as such the train derailed and broke apart while approaching the bend towards Misato station.

The driver was most likely trying to make up for lost time that had occurred when he overran the platform at Mihara, causing the train to be delayed by 5 minutes, and then delayed again because he was slowed down by a Vtuber Park Line Local train also travelling to Misato. The extremely old and curvy tracks on the lines in Lamtsu had been a severe issue for quite a while, with a 2018 report highly recommending the rebuilding of the old lines. However, these warnings were ignored and the speed limits on the lines were in some parts, cranked up all the way to 160km/h on what should have been a 100km section at the maximum.

The accident triggered an investigation that found HRT (Lamtsu) guilty of negligence and filed an antitrust lawsuit, splitting the company into 3. This also caused the 2022 Great Lamtsu Railway Rebuild, a period of 8 months without train service where the railways were being rebuilt.

2022 Misato Station Rebuild

In the aftermath of the Sora Train Wreck, HRT Lamtsu had a revision of the railroad doctrine, and the decision was made to spread out the terminals of the lines along the Yamate Line rather than concentrating them all along Misato station. The Vtuber Park Line was moved to Kimotsuki, and the Kansai Main Line was moved to MRT Misato station across the road. Tram operations also were moved to terminate at the new Misato Tram terminal.

Misato's old stone-brick design, while nostalgic, was not kept in the rebuild. Misato station was completely transformed from an overcrowded dinky station to a modern, futuristic station. The Engineer and Architect of the station was subsequently put in charge of the Lamtsu Railways. However, despite this amount of responsibility, he was still officially a minor employee and thus drew a very low salary, leading to accusations at HRT of Black Company behavior.

The reconstruction of Misato Station took place in a set of stages:

1. Demolition of the old Misato Station and Misato Frieght Terminal
2. Encasing the old Sakuho Line platforms in concrete before starting other works
3. Constructing the foundation of the station
4. Constructing the platforms and laying the ballast
5. Constructing Misato Central Mall
6. Constructing the cover over the station
7. Connecting the platforms to the railroad
8. Finishing Touches

The entire process took less than a year, due to the immense amounts of manpower invested to complete the station in record time. At least 500,000 construction workers were involved in the process.

Platform Layout Pre-Reconstruction

B1
	21: Sakuho Line for Kamiyama (From the Kujukuri Line)→
	Island Platform (To Concourse)
	←22: Kujukuri Line for Tsubetsu (from the Sakuho Line)

G (Indoors)
	Side Platform
	1: Ome Line (Urban)
	2: Ome Line (Rapid)
	Island platform
	3: Ome Liner
	4: Ai Liner
	Island Platform
	5. Vtuber Park Line
	6. Kansai Main Line (Local)
	Island Platform
	7. Kansai Main Line (Rapid)
	8. Kansai Main Line (Express)
	Island Platform
	9. Kansai Main Line (Urban)
	10. Tohoku Liner
	Side Platform

G
	19. Yamate Line (Soto-Mawari)→
	Island Platform
	20. ←Yamate Line (Uchi-Mawari)

L1
	Side Platform
	11. Mihara Line for Hayakawa→
	12: Mihara Line for Tai Hing→
	Island Platform
	13. Namboku Line for Hayakawa→
	Island Platform
	14. Mihara Line for Mihara→
	←15. Mihara Line for Yamate
	Island Platform
	←16. Namboku Line for Meguro
	Island platform
	←17. Mihara Line for Lamtsu
	←18. Mihara Line for Lamtsu
	Side Platform (Connect to Yamate Line)

Design

Misato Station is a modernist style, with a huge roof covering 5 Island platforms, with the concourse at ground level. An elevated linkway above the platforms connects them directly to the opposite side of Misato High Street, as well as Misato Central Mall and MRT Misato station. On the map, the colour of the station is grey, but the colour scheme of the area is much more light-blue. The concourse preserves the older andesite grey colour scheme, while the floor of the concourse is a tiled pattern alternating Polished Diorite and Calcite. On the North-West of the station, there is a heritage area in the style of the old Misato Station for the heritage Ome Line. The Sakuho-Kujukuri Line platforms retain their old design.

Misato Station has no station building, instead opting for a ground-level concourse with elevated platforms. Ticketing offices can be found on the outside of the station, and within the Misato Central Mall.

The old Misato Station was very much brutalist architecture, with the station constructed of mostly Stone Brick, Andesite, and the occasional Iron Support.

Surrounding Area

Districts

Misato City

Sora

Buildings

Sora Railway Museum

Misato Central Mall

HRT Building

Misato Office Tower 1

Misato Central Plaza

Sora Derailment Memorial

Stations

Stations within walking distance are:

Misato Tram Stop (5m)

SMRT Misato Station (50m)

Sora Railway Station (100m)

Gallery

• 

  The last trains at the elevated platforms of the old Misato Station

• 

  A shot of the ground-level platforms at the old Misato Station

• 

  The new Misato station post-rebuilding

See also

• List of Railway Stations in Lamtsu
• List of named passenger trains
• SMRT Misato Station