ADVENTURES IN 1/1 SCALE MODEL RAILROAD KITS: How Japan Built a 3D-Printed Train Station in 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 new 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As Japan’s population ages and its work force shrinks, the maintenance of railway infrastructure, including outdated station buildings, is a growing issue for railway operators.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.

* * * * * * * *

Serendix, the construction firm that worked with West Japan Railway 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.

Adam Carolla notes that had the station been printed and installed in California, even more records would be broken!