Japan is well known for its lightning-fast bullet trains. Now, it may also become a global pioneer in ultra-fast railway station construction. In a novel project, workers replaced a 75-year-old rural train station shelter with a fully 3D-printed structure—completing the job in less than six hours.

Hikyō stations

Located in the coastal city of Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, the structure at Hatsushima Station is now the world’s first 3D-printed train station building. The structure is compact, weatherproof, earthquake-resistant, and made mostly off-site with a digital printer. It’s not the biggest station you’ll ever see, but it’s robust and sturdy.

It was built by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in collaboration with an architectural design studio named Neuob and Serendix, a startup known for building affordable 3D-printed homes.

For years, maintaining rural, underused train stations in Japan has been challenging. They even have a name for them: hikyō stations.

A hikyō station is a remote, often underused train station in rural Japan, typically located far from major towns or cities and known for their scenic or nostalgic appeal. These stations are significant in this context because their low passenger numbers and isolated locations make them ideal candidates for cost-effective, rapid 3D-printed upgrades.

But this is easier said than done.

The populations in such areas are aging, construction workers are few, and many remote stations see only a handful of daily commuters. Building or renovating such stations requires a lot of money, takes months, and heavy manpower. However, with 3D printing, all of this could change.

“Typically, building a station of the same size using reinforced concrete would take one to two months. Additionally, in Japan, there is a notable shortage of workers in the construction industry, resulting in soaring labour costs and difficulties in securing construction personnel,” a representative from Serendix, told Dezeen.

“While the 3D-printed station is made of robust and durable concrete, the assembly of the structure was completed in just two hours – this speed enables more affordable and numerous station constructions,” the Serendix team added.

The making of the 3D printed station

The process began at a factory in Kumamoto Prefecture, where the station’s components were printed using a special mortar reinforced with steel. The printing phase took about seven days. Once complete, the parts were loaded onto trucks and transported over 500 miles (~800 km) to the station site.

Assembly happened overnight, during the gap between the last train of the night and the first of the morning. After the final train left at 11:57 PM, a team of workers used cranes to piece together the four prefabricated parts, this process took two hours. 

Next, workers anchored the segments by inserting metal rods into designated slots and applied adhesive to hold the entire structure firmly in place. They completed the basic structure by 5:45 AM the next day. The entire process took less than six hours, a dramatic improvement over conventional methods, which would have taken several weeks and at least cost twice as much.

The compact white building stands about 2.6 meters tall and covers a little over 100 square feet. It also includes artistic reliefs of mandarin oranges and scabbardfish, which are symbols of the local Japanese culture. 

“To reflect local characteristics, we expressed the local specialities, mandarin oranges and cutlass fish, in relief, which is another feature uniquely possible with 3D printing.” Hiroshi Ota, founder of Neuob, told Dezeen.

While the main structure is complete, final work, such as installing ticket machines and digital readers, is expected to finish by July, which is when the station will start functioning.

A boon to decaying public infrastructure

This project could have big implications beyond just one town. For instance, in aging countries like Japan, South Korea, or Poland, where rural infrastructure is decades old, costly to maintain, and is in urgent need of renovation, the 3D printing approach could prove to be a game-changing approach to rebuild infrastructure.

Additionally, as more and more population migrates to cities (in both developed and developing countries), the construction and maintenance of basic public infrastructure such as railway stations, public toilets, water storage tanks, and disaster shelters in rural areas becomes quite challenging.

Forget rural areas, there are cities where the lack of basic infrastructure affects millions of individuals daily. For example, Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, which is home to over 20 million people, has fewer than 200 public toilets. People, especially women, living and visiting such areas have to struggle for basic amenities. 

The 3D printing approach can boost the development of essential public infrastructure in such places. Hopefully, the success of the first 3D-printed railway station in Japan will serve as a practical and affordable model for countries looking to quickly upgrade their infrastructure.