Sapporo Station
Sapporo Station is the starting point and terminus for most limited express services operated by JR Hokkaido. It also has the tallest building (JR Tower) in Hokkaido. Sapporo station is developing into a commercial center as large as Ōdōri Park and Susukino. Lines and trains. The following JR Hokkaido lines and trains pass through or terminate at Sapporo Station: Layout. Sapporo Station consists of five platforms that are raised above street level. These raised platforms serve 10 tracks which run in an east–west direction. Two concourses run north–south below the platforms. It has a commercial facility  called Paseo under the ground and JR Tower on the south side of the station. The station is also planned to become a new high-rise building and a terminal station of the Hokkaido Shinkansen that is scheduled to open in 2029 or 2031. History. Sapporo Station opened on 28 November 1880 as a terminus of the Horonai Railway. A new station building was built in 1881 and it was enlarged as Sapporo developed. In 1908, the station building was rebuilt because of a fire in 1907. The restored building can be found in the Historical Village of Hokkaido in  Nopporo Forest Park. The third reconstruction was finished in 1951 and the Sapporo Subway was opened in 1971. An underground shopping center was started in 1972 and a commercial building was opened on the east side of the station in 1978. With the privatization of JNR on 1 April 1987, the station came under the control of JR Hokkaido. The current building was built in 2003. Overnight sleeping car trains "Cassiopeia", "Hokutosei", and "Hamanasu" served the station prior to their discontinuation.