As part of large-scale remodeling work on JR Osaka Station scheduled for completion in April, JR West is giving the station a green makeover, making it into an "eco-station" that will use rain runoff and solar panels.
Rainwater from the new 180- by 100-meter dome-like roof, as well as wastewater from restaurants and other facilities that will be in the 31-story "North Gate Building" under construction on the north side of the station will be collected and filtered in a water tank capable of holding about 10,000 metric tons. The filtered water will cover around 90 percent of the toilet water used in the station and North Gate Building.
The recycled water will also be used in a rooftop garden on top of the 14th floor, where fruit and vegetables will be grown. JR West intends to lend out parts of the garden for use by citizens, and restaurants in the station building will use a portion of the vegetables and fruits harvested in the garden.
Solar panels will be installed over about 800 square meters of the station platform roof and will produce 90,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, which is planned to be used in the station for facilities like escalators.
A small wind-power installation is also planned for the rooftop garden, which will help advertise the environmental-friendliness of the station.
Also moving to introduce environmental technologies at one of its stations is Hankyu Railway, which announced in March 2010 on the opening of Settsu-shi Station in Settsu, Osaka Prefecture, that it would aim to make the station carbon neutral through the use of solar panels and other strategies.
Meanwhile, the fact that JR West is giving a green makeover to a station as major as Osaka suggests that the movement to make stations more environmentally-friendly is picking up steam.
