An often-spouted complaint about public infrastructure projects is how long they take to complete. California High-Speed Rail, a perennial punching bag, is slated to get its initial operating segment running by 2031 at the earliest. A recent project in Japan flipped that notion on its head. The West Japan Railway Company, also known as JR West, replaced an entire station with 3D-printed prefabricated pieces in under three hours last week. The company also claims the construction costs were half that of reinforced concrete.
JR West used this new construction method to replace Hatsushima Station, a small wooden station built in 1949 and served less than 400 passengers per day. The company waited for an overnight lull in the schedule, then quickly sent its workers into action. The new station was pieced together with four hallow 3D-printed mortar pieces, according to the Japan Times. At the work site, the pieces were filled with rebar and concrete to provide the same earthquake resistance as traditionally built stations. Despite the blazing fast construction time, JR West aims to open the new station in July.
3D-printed construction might be the future
JR West claims it’s the first 3D-printed rail station. The railway is considering using the method on other projects, and it will be interesting to see how scalable 3D printing can be in station construction. No offense, the new 12-square-yard Hatsushima Station doesn’t look too impressive in renderings. It seems like an oversized bus stop, but the station will likely meet all of the demands of the local community.
3D printing has steadily become the go-to solution for rapid prototyping and manufacturing in unusual environments. The method is becoming more and more prevalent. NASA is exploring using 3D printing for future manned missions to Mars. The cost of launching construction materials from Earth to the Red Planet would be prohibitively expensive, so the space agency would like to melt the Martian soil into materials for 3D printers. Who knows? We could be building habitats for astronauts from pieces out of an extruder.
