As the popularity of trains grew in the second half of the 19th century, some of the stations are amazingly beautiful works of architectural art. From sky-themed murals on high ceilings to glossy red brick floors, the most beautiful eye-catching railway stations are a testament to the economic boom brought about by such transport hubs.
1. the World Trade Centre transport hub
Architect Santiago Calatrava’s long-awaited World Trade Centre Transport Hub opened in March in Lower Manhattan. The centrepiece of the project is an 800,000 square foot glass and steel structure known as Oculus. The hub connects 11 underground lines, the PATH train, the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal and several downtown buildings. The main concourse, which rises into the air, has a white marble floor and a 355-foot retractable roof window.
2. Kuala Lumpur Railway Station
Designed by British government architect Arthur Benison Hubbeck and opened in 1910, the railway station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a neo-Mauritanian delight, a fantastic agglomeration of minarets, domed pavilions and arches. Now more for passengers than tourists, the luxurious white and cream Anglo-Asian station is still worth a stop here.
3. Kanazawa Station.
When Kanazawa Station, built around 1898, was modernised in 2005, the first reaction was mixed. The addition of an ultra-modern glass and steel dome and giant drum-shaped wooden gates seemed out of place to many. But visitors continue to come to Ishikawa Station, and the appeal of the new buildings rivals other attractions in the historic city, including the geisha district and former samurai quarters.
4. Liège-Guillemain railway station
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed the latest incarnation of the railway station of Liège, Belgium, using steel, glass and white concrete. His version, completed in 2009, replaced the 1958 International-style building, deliberately stripped of a single façade to unite two neighbourhoods previously separated by railway tracks.
Calatrava’s commitment to the plasticity of concrete is evident here, and the huge ribbed vault he created flows organically, reminiscent of a wave crashing over the thousands of passengers who pass beneath it daily.
5. Gangerburg railway station
The Nordpark is a four-station funicular that replaced a 100-year-old tramway and carries passengers up a vertiginous 1.1-mile slope. Each station is covered with glass moulds resembling ice floes and snowdrifts. Here’s a view of Gangerburg station, the terminus of the cable car’s ascent, which was completed in 2007. The architect was Zaha Hadid.
6. Sirkeci railway station
As Istanbul’s gateway to Europe, the opulent Sirkeci railway station combined French Art Nouveau and Ottoman aesthetics. When it opened in 1890, it was considered quite modern for its time, with 300 gas lanterns and tile ovens imported from Austria.
Standing at the foot of the Bosphorus Strait, the station is characterised by brick bands on the facade, clock towers and stained glass windows. The station served as the terminus for the famous Orient Express, which connected Paris’s Gare Orient to Turkey on an 80-hour journey until the line discontinued service to Istanbul in 1977.
7. Antwerp Central Station
The beautiful Antwerp Central Station waiting room, built in 1905, is richly decorated with more than 20 types of marble and stone, but it doesn’t feel bulky thanks to tall arched windows and lanterns that flood the concourse with light. The upper railway platform also has a beautiful vaulted iron and glass roof.
Thanks to a careful restoration in 2009, the dilapidated gables and towers removed in the 1950s were reconstructed, and the integrity of the original terminal was preserved even as new tunnels were dug for through traffic and high-speed rail.
8. King’s Cross railway station
The historic King’s Cross railway station in London was designed by architect Lewis Cubitt and completed in 1852. At the time, the glass roofs of the two railway platforms were considered state-of-the-art, although their mitered wooden beams were replaced by steel beams, and the two platforms and 14 tracks quickly lost demand among passengers