Ōtsu

Weekday departures: 267/day · Sat & holiday departures: 267/day

First / last train (weekday): 5:10 / 24:27

Busiest hour: 8:00–9:00 (18)

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0:00 ─ 23:00

Counts are departures in the timetable data shown on our live map.

• Tōkaidō Main Line: Zeze ⇄ Yamashina

Today's Ōtsu Station is the third to bear the name. The first opened on 15 July 1880 at the present Biwako Hamaotsu site as a terminus for Lake Biwa ferry transfers to Nagahama, Japan's earliest rail-and-ferry service. After the Kōtō Line completed in 1889, ferry traffic ended and the original station became a freight branch. The second Ōtsu was renamed from Baba in 1913, then reverted to Baba when the present (third) Ōtsu opened on 1 August 1921 on a shortened route through the new Shin-Osakayama Tunnel. The current fourth-generation building dates from 1975, and station numbering JR-A29 was introduced in March 2018.

Although Ōtsu serves the Shiga prefectural capital, in fiscal 2024 it averaged only 33,978 daily passengers — fewer than Moriyama or even nearby Seta, where the JR Special Rapid does not stop.