The first morning train leaving Hatsushima station after the new building, made from 3D-printed components, was assembled in Arida, Japan, on March 26, 2025. Construction started after the night’s last train departed and was finished before the first train arrived in the morning. — NORIKO HAYASHI/The New York Times
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 more than 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 Co.
