Imagine you catch the last train of the night and, in the morning, when you return to the station to catch the first train of the day, there is nothing left of the station you used the day before and, in its place, a brand-new station.
This is exactly what the Japanese company JR West is doing to replace the old wooden stations with new concrete ones. Thanks to 3D printing, these new stations can be installed in a matter of hours, they are sturdy, and they’re cheaper.
Overnight you wake up to a completely new station
Guilty as charged: I don’t remember what Madrid’s Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station looks like without construction. Over the last few months I’ve passed by several times to catch trains, and each time the station looked different.
It’s fair to say that Chamartín’s expansion and full remodel is a massive project and, logically, it takes time to complete. But it’s also fair to say that, generally, Spain isn’t in a hurry to carry out any construction. In other countries, by contrast, speed is the norm when it comes to building projects.
JR West is constructing the world’s first 3D-printed railway station at Hatsushima Station (Wakayama).
The station building will use 3D-printed reinforced concrete parts, reducing on-site work and construction time. This method improves durability, allows for flexible designs,… pic.twitter.com/4QC9iB633D— Japan Station (@JPNStation) March 17, 2025
The best example is China’s high-speed rail network: in 15 years they have built 40,000 km, while in Spain it took 19 years to stretch the line from Madrid to Asturias. But China isn’t the only country where there is urgency to build rail infrastructure: in Japan they have erected a railway station in just 3 hours.
The Japanese company Japan Railway Company, better known as JR West, wanted to replace the old wooden Hatsushima station, built in 1949, with a completely new one. Thanks to 3D printing, they did it in a flash, so that at night travelers used the wooden station and by morning that same station had been replaced by a concrete one. JR West took advantage of the night to install the new station because there was a window without trains, thus not affecting any traveler.
The construction of this new station in 2025 marked a turning point. It has shown that it’s possible to carry out this kind of work without disrupting the operation of the rail line.
JR West constructed last Wednesday the world’s first station building created with 3D printing technology. It is located at Hatsushima Station, in Wakayama. https://t.co/PMsMJnWhsg
— Nippon.com 🇯🇵 en español (@nippon_es) March 27, 2025
In this case, the station is very small—about 10 square meters—so it’s akin to a bus stop. Of course, building a larger station would take longer, but Japan has hundreds of stations like this, so 3D printing could help replace them.
Moreover, reinforced concrete is a durable material that withstands the test of time, weather, and earthquakes, a decisive factor in a country like Japan. The company Seendix printed the concrete blocks in 3D, and JR West simply installed them. Not only is it faster than conventional construction, but it is also cheaper and allows for more flexible designs. It’s clear that Chamartín’s renovation can’t be completed in hours, but 3D printing can greatly accelerate this kind of work.
Image | Unsplash
