How Japan built a 3D train station in 6 hours

In the six hours between the departure of the last night train and the first time arrived in the morning, the workers in the rural areas of Japan built a completely new train station. It will replace a much larger wooden structure of passengers in this distant society for more than 75 years.

The components of the new station were three -dimensional print elsewhere and were collected on the site last month, while the railway operators say he is a world first. It may seem to be more than one station, but building a traditional road would take more than two months and cost twice that, according to West Japan Railways.

With Japan’s population shrinkage and its own workforce, maintaining the railway infrastructure, including old stations buildings, is an increasing problem for railway operators. Rural stations with having modified numbers of users have been a special challenge.

The new station, Hatsushima, is located in a quiet vast town part of Arada, a city of 25,000 people in Wakayama province, which limits two famous tourist destinations, the governorates of Osaka and Nara. The station, which is offered by one line with trains operating once to three times a hour, serves about 530 contestants per day.

Yi Nishino, 19, is used every day to move to university. She said she was surprised when she first heard that the first 3D building in the world would be built here.

She said, “Watching it, the work is impossiblely to work with normal construction.” “I hope they can make more buildings with 3D printing technology.”

Serenix, the construction company that worked with the western railway of Japan in the project, said that printing and enhancing the parts with concrete lasted.

It was printed in a factory in Kumamoto Governorate on the southwestern island of Kyushu. She left the manufacturer on the morning of March 24 to be transported, about 500 miles northeast of the road to Hatsoshima Station.

“The construction is usually done over several months while the trains do not work every night,” said Kunihiro Handa, co -founder of SERENDIX. The construction work near the commercial lines is subject to strict restrictions and is usually implemented overnight so that the schedules are not disrupted.

When trucks with 3D printed parts began on Tuesday night in late March, several dozens of population gathered to see the first initiative of their kind, in a very familiar place for them.

After that, after the last train withdrew at 11:57 pm, workers were busy building the new station.

In less than six hours, the printed parts are collected, made of a special mortar. They were delivered on separate trucks, and a large crane was used to lift each of them where the workers were collecting them together, a few meters away from the old station.

The new station, which has a slightly more than 100 square feet, was completed before the first train arrives at 5:45 am, a simple white building, and includes designs that include mandarin oranges, sheath thickness, and Ahara specialties.

It still needs internal work, as well as equipment such as ticket machines and readers of transport cards. West Japan, the railway said that the new building is expected to open for use in July.

Railways officials say they hope that the station will show how the service can be maintained in remote sites with new technology and a few workers.

“We believe that the importance of this project is the fact that the total number of people required will be dramatically reduced,” said Rio Kawamoto, President of JR West Innovations, an investment capital unit in the railway operator.

The wooden building that will be replaced by the new station has been completed in 1948. Since 2018, it has been automatically, like many smaller stations in Japan.

Toshifumi Norimatsu, 56, who runs the post office a few hundred feet, had sweet feelings and passed around the new building.

He said: “I am a little sad from the old station that is lowered.” “But I will be happy if this station could become a pioneer and benefit from other stations.”