World's Best Train Stations

[MolsonExport]

what a great thread. so many of Canada's trainstations are dilapidated.

[Busy Bee]

That should come as no surprise. Canada suffered just as bad as the US as the auto culture took over and the merging and dying railroads divested from passenger rail and their stations and terminals.

[The Chemist]

Wuhan's new station is amazing. I want to see it in person sometime.

While not as big as the newest stations in China, I'm still a big fan of Shanghai South Railway Station. I love its perfect circle shape, and the airy feeling under the vast (236m diameter) roof.


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[wrab]

^ That Wuhan station is looking very cool. (Edit: I meant Shanghai - thanks muppet for the correction below). The circular layout is pretty unusual.

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Most of Chicago's grand old stations have been demolished. Here is a pic of the main concourse of Union Station, which was demolished in 1969 (leaving only the waiting room (not pictured)):



Tribune Co. http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune....4ed5970c-popup

(Edit: I'd mistakenly posted a pic of Penn - corrected 2/3)

[muppet]

^thanks but thats Shanghai South station, Wuhan's is on the previous page.

The Grand Union was indeed grand, I love how light and airy it feels.

[Bucktown718]

Here's the Coney Island Train Station which is located in Brooklyn,NY



The roof is glazed with photovoltaic (solar electric) panels, consisting of 2,800 thin-film modules from SCHOTT (Germany) and covering a surface of 76,000 square feet (7,100 m2). The solar panel system has a nominal power of about 210 kWp, which generates an annual output of 250,000 kW hours, which the station can use to offset power needs. It is the largest renewable-energy enabled mass transit station in the United States.

Coney Island train station is not the best nor is it very modern but i just though i share it with you. In the summer time its crazy packed since its located right next to the beach.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

Here is a pic of the main concourse of Union Station, which was demolished in 1969 (leaving only the waiting room (not pictured)):

As a frequent user of Union Station for long distance train trips, I hate hate hate how the waiting room is now so seperated from the main complex. When you have to wait for a train, you do it in the claustrophic, smelly new rooms in the basement next to the platforms. If you wait in the old one, you are constantly accosted by homeless people who pretend they lost their train ticket or can't pay an ATM fee or whatever and you risk missing when your platform is called.


That said, I'm quite afraid what you've posted is actually Penn Station in New York [demolished in 1968] and not Union Station in Chicago.

[MolsonExport]

what a surprise (coney Island train station). But seeing (the grand ol') Penn station photos makes me want to cry.

[MolsonExport]

wikipedia

how, but how could they tear down such a thing of beauty?????

[MolsonExport]

^Before.


\/After

Source: vomitus.org


all the charm of a greyhound station.

[wrab]

^ And that's one of the more flattering pics.

Originally Posted by CGII;4679153.....That said, I'm quite afraid what you've posted is actually [i

Penn[/i] Station in New York [demolished in 1968] and not Union Station in Chicago.

Yeah - the Tribune had the photo up with the wrong caption; they've corrected theirs but I forgot to correct mine. Thanks for pointing it out. I've changed the pic.

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Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mumbai (aka Victoria Station)




Advait Supnekar http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flick...3311/slideshow



digitaleye81 http://www.flickr.com/photos/digital...7603843298246/



http://advancetechnology.today.com/f...3_17213043.jpg

[MolsonExport]

^Was this the one featured in Slumdog millionnaire?

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

how, but how could they tear down such a thing of beauty?????

I don;t think there's one simple answer, but I think a blind maniacal devotion to modernism and an overconfident assumption that man was more than capable of building something better than what was built before.

A more simple explanation is that this historic architecture simply was unappreciated because it was so common/ordinary/traditional and was no longer identified with the zeitgeist of the era.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

I don;t think there's one simple answer, but I think a blind maniacal devotion to modernism and an overconfident assumption that man was more than capable of building something better than what was built before.

A more simple explanation is that this historic architecture simply was unappreciated because it was so common/ordinary/traditional and was no longer identified with the zeitgeist of the era.

An even simpler explanation is that taste in architecture had nothing to do with, and greedy businessmen ready to make a profit on the demise of a once glorious piece of infrastructure in exchange for new office space in a desirable area of a desirable city did...

[Busy Bee]

I guess I was referring to why there was not a bigger outcry from the general public or the layman than I was referring to the business interests that actually made MSG happen.

[Misterfreeman87]

I ve heard they ve offcialy started construction on the new Stuttgart21 project.

Its a project where they want to pull down the old station and buildt a complete new one underground.

[Frogfisher]

I personally think Helsinki Main Station and St. Pancras(Paddington too) are among the best in the world. Shanghai's South Station I saw before it was public opened but it is quit interesting and I like it alot.

I will add Copenhagen Main Station, because I am danish and because it still is among my favourites... it isnt large or unique... but it has retained all its old wooden structure and has a nice atmosphere... it really feels old in a good way... not like St. Pancras that feels all new!