is a railway station in Nunobiki-chà Â, Chà «à Â-ku, Kobe, Hyà Âgo Prefecture, and is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The station is on the JR Kobe Line which runs between Osaka Station and Himeji Station; part of the Tà Âkaidà  Main Line. As a part of the JR West Urban Network, the following IC cards are accepted: ICOCA, Suica, PiTaPa, TOICA, and SUGOCA.
Sannomiya Station is the main terminal for Kobe and is approximately 2 km east of KÃ Âbe Station. At the beginning of the Meiji period commercial and administrative functions were centred around Kobe Station. However, after Kobe opened as a port for foreign trade, and continuing with the post-World War II reconstruction and expansion of commercial areas, as well as moving Kobe City Hall to the Sannomiya area, the district soon became the new city centre.
Even now, Kobe Station is still the representative station of Kobe. For example, in relation to the calculation of Shinkansen fares, the number of operating kilometres to Shin-Kobe Station is calculated as being the same as to Kobe Station (despite Sannomiya Station in fact being the closest station to it). On the other hand, the number of passengers using Sannomiya Station is greater than that of Kobe Station. Also, the Kobe Terminal for highway buses is in front of Sannomiya Station, not Kobe Station. Likewise, there are more limited express trains, including overnight trains, which stop at Sannomiya Station than at Kobe Station.
Most of the JR Kobe Line runs on , meaning that there are two tracks for each direction. Similar to other stations such as Nishinomiya Station, Sannomiya Station is of the island type, with two above-ground platforms which service four tracks. The inner tracks, Nos. 2 and 3, are for all-stations "Local" and "Rapid" trains. The outside tracks, Nos. 1 and 4, are used by "Rapid", "Special Rapid", and "Limited express" trains. Freight trains also pass on these tracks.
Tracks 1 and 4 are capable of accommodating a maximum fifteen-car train, while Tracks 2 and 3 are limited to twelve cars.
The distance to the adjacent Motomachi Station is the shortest anywhere on the JR Kobe Line.
The station has a total of three ticket gates. Access is via the East, Central and West entrances. The West exit provides direct access to the Hankyu Kobe-Sannomiya Station, Hanshin Kobe-Sannomiya Station, and Kobe Subway Sannomiya Station.
Sannomiya Station has a JR Midori no Madoguchi ticket office. It is open everyday from the first train until 23:00.
Rapid Service trains arriving at and departing from Track 4 in the evening do not stop at three stations: , and .
All of the lines below, and their representative stations, are adjacent to JR Sannomiya Station, or are in adjoining buildings, or can be accessed by the underground shopping center, Santica (ãÂÂãÂÂã¡ãÂÂ).
The area around Sannomiya Station is the largest business and shopping district in Kobe City.
On the first day of fiscal year 2005, 115,115 people boarded trains at Sannomiya Station, ranking fourth among JR West stations.
In the past, Blue Trains (overnight trains with non-sleeper passenger cars) leaving Tokyo Station would stop at Sannomiya Station. However, the last of the Blue Trains that stopped, the Fuji, was merged with the Hayabusa in the route/time-table revision on March 1, 2005, and no longer stops. During the time that the Fuji did stop at Sannomiya Station, the next stop was (present day Shin-Yamaguchi Station).
The name of the area, as well as the station's name, originates from Sannomiya Shrine. Until 1931, Sannomiya Station occupied the place where the modern day Motomachi Station has been established. Motomachi Station is now the closest station to Sannomiya Jinja, however, when the new Sannomiya Station was built, the name went with it.
All of the other transportation facilities in Sannomiya are written in Japanese as ä¸Âå®®, without the Katakana character "ãÂÂ". Only JR includes it in the name, written as ä¸ÂãÂÂ宮駠. It is thought the reason it was included was to prevent people traveling from other parts of the country from misreading the name. The characters of the station's name can be read many different ways. Now, the difference in the name has actually become helpful to travelers.
In similar fashion, when Nishinomiya Station opened on the same day, the character "ãÂÂ" was also displayed in that station's name. However, for many years, the city of Nishinomiya requested the name be changed to match the city's name. On 18 March 2007, in coordination with the opening of Sakura Shukugawa Station, the name was changed. However, in the case of Sannomiya Station, while the cost of changing all of the signage in the city would certainly be costly, it remains that there has been no request or demand for the name to be changed.
Near the Central Ticket Gate, is a place with golden bells suspended from the ceiling. This area is called the Golden Bell Plaza. Similar to the Silver Bell Meeting Area at Tà Âkyà  Station, the Golden Bell Plaza is intended to be a familiar place to everyone and a convenient place to meet. The bells were a donation from the Kà Âbe Central Lions Club.