How Japan built world’s first 3D-printed train station in just 6 hours

In the six hours between the departure of the night’s last train and the arrival of the morning’s first one, workers in rural Japan built an entirely new train station. It will replace a significantly bigger wooden structure that has served commuters in this remote community for over 75 years.
The station’s components were 3D-printed elsewhere and assembled on site last month, in what the railway’s operators say is a world first. It may look more like a shelter than a station, but building one the traditional way would have taken more than two months and cost twice as much, according to the West Japan Railway Company.
As Japan’s population ages and its work force shrinks, the maintenance of railway infrastructure, including outdated station buildings, is a growing issue for railway operators. Rural stations with dwindling numbers of users have posed a particular challenge.
The new station, Hatsushima, is in a quiet seaside town that’s part of Arida, a 25,000-population city in Wakayama Prefecture, which borders two popular tourist destinations, Osaka and Nara prefectures. The station, served by a single line, serves around 530 riders a day.
Yui Nishino, 19, uses it every day for her commute to university. She said she was surprised when she first heard the world’s first 3D-printed station building was going to be built here. “Watching it, the work is progressing at a speed that would be impossible with normal construction,” she said. “I hope they can make more buildings with 3D-printing technology.”
As trucks carrying the 3D-printed parts started pulling in on a Tuesday night in late March, several dozen residents gathered to watch the first-of-its-kind initiative get underway, in a place deeply familiar to them. Then, after the last train pulled away at 11:57 pm, workers got busy building the new station. In less than six hours, the preprinted parts, made of a special mortar, were assembled. The new station, which measures about 100 square feet, was completed before the first train arrived at 5:45 a.m. It is a minimalistic, white building, featuring designs that include a mandarin orange and a scabbardfish, specialties of Arida.
It still needed interior work, and West Japan Railway said expected to open the new building for use in July. Officials say they hope the station will show how service can be maintained in remote areas with new technology and fewer workers. nyt