[3][4] The station is served by the Hisatsu Orange Railway Line that follows the former coastal route of the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line connecting Yatsushiro and Sendai.

Nishikata Station was opened on 1 July 1922 as a station on the Japanese Government Railways Sendai Line, which was incorporated into the Kagoshima Main Line on 17 October 1927.

With the privatization of the Japan National Railways on 1 April 1987, the station was transferred to JR Kyushu.

On 13 March 2004, with the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen, the station was transferred to the Hisatsu Orange Railway.

The average daily passenger traffic in fiscal 2019 was 49 people.