Japan erects--overnight--a 3-D printed train station for a rural community

Kiuko Notoya recently reported in the New York Times about the overnight construction of a train station in rural western Japan.  The components were 3-D printed elsewhere.  According to the West Japan Railway Company that serves this place, Hatsushima (near Arida, in Wakayama prefecture) building a station the old-fashioned way would have cost twice as much and taken more than two months.  The station is served by one train line, which runs between one and three times per hour; it serves about 530 riders each day. The new train station, which looks more like a shed or a shelter, was erected between the time the last train ran at 11:57 pm one evening and the first train train the next morning at 5:45 am.  The 100 square foot building is described as "a minimalistic, white building, featuring designs that include a mandarin orange and a scabbardfish, specialties of Arida."

Notoya writes:  

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.

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As Japan’s population ages and its work force shrinks, the maintenance of railway infrastructure, including outdated station buildings, is a growing issue for railway operators.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 NYT story, which includes several short videos of the production process for the train station parts and the building's erection, is worth a read in its entirety.