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The Independent
11-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Japan builds world's first 3D-printed railway station in just 6 hours
Japan has built the world's first 3D-printed railway station in just six hours, replacing an ageing wooden structure. The new train station, resembling a garden shed, was built in rural Arida, south of Osaka, with 3D-printed mortar moulds which were delivered by trucks to be assembled. The assembly with cranes happened overnight, between the departure of the last train and the arrival of the first the next morning. The finished structure stands 2.6m tall, spans an area of 100sqft, and is made from reinforced concrete. The white structure is adorned with mandarin orange and a scabbardfish – some of the specialties of Arida – to add to its minimalist design. West Japan Railway Company (JR West) said the station that was completed last month is the first of its kind in the world in Arida, a local fishing port known for its breathtaking mountain range. Dealing with the challenges of a shrinking workforce due to the ageing society and fewer passengers on the rural routes, the traditional one would have taken more than two months to complete and would have been at double the cost, it said. Serendix, the Japanese housing firm that worked with West Japan Railway on the project, said the new structure consists of four parts, including the roof and walls, and is earthquake-resistant, similar to that of reinforced concrete houses. While the building itself is finished, things like ticket machines and card readers are still being installed, and it's expected to open to the public in July 2025. After the interior of the structure is finished and fitted with a ticket machine, the wooden structure that has served for more than 75 years will be torn down. 'Normally, it takes about two months to construct a station building of the same scale, so we felt that the speed was a great advantage,' a railway official said when it was built in March end. The process of printing parts and reinforcing them with concrete took seven days in a factory in Kumamoto Prefecture. These were then transported about 800km away on 24 March to be put together with the help of a crane. Residents of the area gathered to watch the unique construction that night, and one of them spoke of bittersweet feelings. Toshifumi Norimatsu, 56, told the New York Times that he was 'a little sad about the old station being taken down'. 'But I would be happy if this station could become a pioneer and benefit other stations.' The small, unstaffed Hatsushima Station serves the Kisei Line, which runs along the Kii Peninsula. It was built in 1938, but the station was electrified only in 1978. Like other rural railway stations, its usage declined between 1987 and 2023. The Hatsushima station also serves as a gateway to Jinoshima, an uninhabitable island where locals go for just swimming and camping.
Boston Globe
08-04-2025
- Boston Globe
How Japan built a 3D-printed train station in 6 hours
Advertisement The new station, Hatsushima, is in a quiet seaside town that is 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 with trains that run one to three times an hour, 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 that 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 that they can make more buildings with 3D-printing technology." Advertisement Serendix, the construction firm that worked with West Japan Railway on the project, said printing the parts and reinforcing them with concrete took seven days. The printing was done at a factory in Kumamoto prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu. The parts left the factory on the morning of March 24, to be transported about 500 miles northeast by road to Hatsushima Station. 'Normally, construction takes place over several months while the trains are not running every night,' said Kunihiro Handa, a co-founder of Serendix. Construction work near commercial lines is subject to strict restrictions and is usually carried out overnight, so as not to disrupt timetables. 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 p.m., workers got busy building the new station. In less than six hours, the preprinted parts, made of a special mortar, were assembled. They were delivered on separate trucks, and a large crane was used to lift each one down to where workers were piecing them together, just a few feet from the old station. The new station, which measures just over 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, as well as equipment like ticket machines and transportation card readers. West Japan Railway said it expected to open the new building for use in July. Advertisement Railway officials say that they hope the station will show how service can be maintained in remote locations with new technology and fewer workers. 'We believe that the significance of this project lies in the fact that the total number of people required will be reduced greatly,' said Ryo Kawamoto, president of JR West Innovations, a venture capital unit of the rail operator. The wooden building that the new station will replace was completed in 1948. Since 2018, it has been automated, like many smaller stations in Japan. Toshifumi Norimatsu, 56, who manages the post office a few hundred feet away, had bittersweet feelings about the new building. "I am a little sad about the old station being taken down," he said. "But I would be happy if this station could become a pioneer and benefit other stations." This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Japan Deploys Entire 3D-Printed Train Station
Incredible things have been happening in Japan. This is the country that gave us karaoke bars, sushi conveyors, and square watermelon — not to mention those high-tech toilets. It's also a world leader in public infrastructure, sporting wonders like the lofty Tokyo Sky Tree, the immense Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, and the 300-meter tall Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge. There's also the matter of the Shinkansen bullet train network, connecting riders to major cities across the country at speeds of up to 225 mph. Undergirding these dazzling public works is good old Japanese engineering, known for precision, innovation, and dependability. Case in point, the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) just announced the completion of a 3D-printed train station, which it says is a world first. Plans to replace a crumbling wooden station in Wakayama Prefecture were first announced on March 11, 2025, and the printed building was more or less put together by March 26th in the span of just under three hours. To do it, JR West contracted Serendix, which specializes in 3D printed homes. Serendix delivered the station in four parts by rail, which were then pieced together during a break in the train schedule. Though the rural station weighs in at just 10 square meters, the construction time is more than half the previous estimate of six hours. The construction method reportedly cut down on cost as well, according to The Japan Times, coming in at half the price of reinforced concrete. The company boasts that it should likewise be able to withstand the region's devastating earthquakes. Once the station goes online in July, citizens of the coastal city of Arida will be able to resume 90-minute trips to the uninhabited island of Jinoshima, a popular destination for summer travelers. The ease with which Japan rolled out the station underscores the country's commitment to public transit. Surprisingly, the majority Japan's metro and regional rail services are privately owned — an anomaly compared to most publicly-owned systems throughout the world. The secret is that many of Japan's transit companies also operate as property developers. With some carefully regulation, these companies are able to rapidly develop urban areas around public infrastructure, and invest in innovative new technology like 3D printed buildings. But Japan's success with rail privatization is even more of an outlier. Most privatization ventures throughout the world have failed spectacularly. In the UK, for example, rail privatization has led to rising fees, service reductions, staffing issues, and major delays, thanks to deregulation allowing private equity vultures to pick the system clean. More on transit: After Uber's App Cost Him His Job, a Disgruntled Driver Flew to San Francisco and Showed Up at Its Headquarters
