A railway station is a public transport terminal where trains come to a stop. It usually has one or more entrances, a ticket office and at least one platform on which passengers may board or disembark from the train. Other facilities are often included, such as information enquiry points, toilets and waiting rooms.
Stations are usually located at the end of a line, although they can also be at mid-points (interchanges) where trains change lines. Some railway lines are passenger-only, others carry both passengers and goods. A dual-purpose station might have a freight depot separate from the main passenger station building, as is often the case in older cities.
While some stations look like modern airports – with their sleek, sculptural forms and bright, clean surfaces – others are imbued with the character of their city’s past. The old railways that built these grand buildings were often a city’s lifeblood, providing jobs, transporting people and goods, connecting communities and transforming landscapes. Today, many urban rail systems struggle to find a way to support a profitable business model. This is largely due to the shift from traditional transit-only operations to more multipurpose hubs that are increasingly competing with automobile traffic and other forms of urban transportation.
The best examples of railway stations are a testament to the art and science of engineering, and often make great architectural statements. They are places where form is a function: the undulating roof of Antwerpen-Centraal, for example, allows air to circulate and is said to resemble a giant blanket floating over the station platforms. The sweeping walls and columns of Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, meanwhile, are a striking expression of Beaux Arts elegance.
In the past, stations had a strong association with the railway’s cultural image, which has now been largely subsumed by commercial concerns and passenger safety. This was especially true for historic railroads, which typically had a dedicated building and staff to handle the influx of passengers. Today, station design must balance passenger demand with the needs of the community and the public sector.
A well-designed station must be an efficient and safe hub for boarding, alighting and disembarking. This includes an effective layout and arrangement of tracks, platforms, signalling, ticketing, information and public space, as well as the provision for maintenance, security, cleaning and a customer service center.
In addition to ensuring that passengers have easy access to trains, station planners must ensure that they provide adequate space for buses and taxis, as well as pedestrian routes with clearly defined areas for incoming and outgoing flows. The design of a station must also be considered in terms of its location and environmental impact.
The world’s busiest railway station is Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station, which handles 3.6 million passengers on an average day and has 44 platforms spread over two levels. Its awe-inducing scale makes it an art-deco landmark, but the station also has an unusual and unexpected connection to music history: it was once home to the band Oasis, and lead singer Noel Gallagher used its ticket machines to create the album cover for 1995’s Some Might Say.
