Trivia: Interesting or unusual railway stations in other countries.

[MarcVD]

Very nice video. Amazing to notice how bad the track condition is in France compared to Spain... Also, the border is clearly visible, but I saw no "change of railway administration" signs that are normally present at all railway borders.

 

[MarcVD]

Thanks. So 5 years ago the standard gauge was heavily overgrown in places and obviously long disused. I wonder when it was last used?

Can't answer that one but I can positively confirm that 30 years ago already, french and spanish services all terminated at Latour, so the UIC gauge track saw no other regular service than a weekly tourist train during the summer months. The track was already suffering from deferred maintenance and limited to 30 km/h. I'll see if I can dig out pictures and scan them.

 

[westralian]

Namur : a train station with a bus station on its roof (still under construction )

View attachment 70903

Whitfords and Warwick stations on the Joondalup Line in Perth, Australia both also have bus stations above the platforms.

 

[AlexNL]

The station of Breda (NL) does not only function as a railway and bus station, it's also an office (20.000 m² of office space), shopping area (9.000m²) and has 150 homes integrated into its design. Lastly, there are more than 700 parking spots on the building's roof.


Aerial photo of Breda (NL) station, courtesy of Google Maps.

One of those 150 homes is mine.

 

[JonasB]

A few from Sweden:

Sjisjka in the north. A small village (a couple of years ago it had a total population of two inhabitants) that has a platform and where trains stop. A video of the station:

Abisko Turiststation, another one in the north and as far as I know the only hotel that has its own railway station.

Västervik, only station that still has standard/narrow dual gauge track (Haparanda has a short stretch of standard/broad gauge).

Örnsköldsvik, a station built over a ski jumping slope.

Södertälje has some odd stations as well. The commuter trains from Stockholm end at the central station which is a terminus, but for the trains to reach the station, they have to change direction for the last 1.5 km. Long distance trains stop at the south station that is located in the end of a 2 km long bridge.

Tobo, a small station that appears to be in the middle of nowhere: https://goo.gl/maps/VMmoKBLpkzFChq5U7

 

[30907]

Very nice video. Amazing to notice how bad the track condition is in France compared to Spain... Also, the border is clearly visible, but I saw no "change of railway administration" signs that are normally present at all railway borders.

Yes, looks as if the Spanish side had been recently relaid (with the rationalisation at Puigcerda?), but not the French. The next bit towards Barcelona needs it: there is a long emergency 30km/h adding 9min to journey time.

 

[pne]

There are several others. Aachen has at least two commutable tracks, Basel at least one. Certainly many others. Some have disappeared recently with the generalization of multi-system locos : Quevy, Jeumont, Luxemburg.

Pontresina on the Bernina-Bahn in Switzerland is another.

 

[scragend]

Andač, somewhere in Slovakia on the line between Bratislava and Nitra, isn't exactly the world's biggest station. That's the entire station, by the way, there wasn't anything on the other side of the line at all.

 

[stut]

Andač, somewhere in Slovakia on the line between Bratislava and Nitra, isn't exactly the world's biggest station. That's the entire station, by the way, there wasn't anything on the other side of the line at all.

Heh, reminds me of a visit to Ljubljana, in the late 90s. We'd arrived by train from Koper, and were headed to a campsite over the river. As it happened, there was a train about to leave in that direction, so we got a ticket and hopped on, rather than trying to figure out the bus system. We then arrived into Ljubljana Črnuče:

You can see something approximating a platform at the top right. Yeah, that's not where we stopped, we stopped on this track on the right, and only just figured out we were at a station when we saw others getting off and noticed the sign, leaping out with backpacks just as the train was about to move again.

This isn't that unusual. I've also caught a train from Prague-Smichov, heading up on the branch line through Zlicin (this has now been converted to light rail, with a new stop in front of the station). To get to the platform, you had to head through the (frankly rather decrepit) main station, up a tiny staircase out the back, then wait with a crowd on the edge of what looked like a marshalling yard. As the train pulled in, you clambered over the tracks to find it, then howked yourself up the steps.

 

[30907]

This isn't that unusual. I've also caught a train from Prague-Smichov, heading up on the branch line through Zlicin (this has now been converted to light rail, with a new stop in front of the station). To get to the platform, you had to head through the (frankly rather decrepit) main station, up a tiny staircase out the back, then wait with a crowd on the edge of what looked like a marshalling yard. As the train pulled in, you clambered over the tracks to find it, then howked yourself up the steps.

That's the other detached station I was thinking of back at #7.
A few years ago the "Prague Semmering" trains started from a tiny platform called Na Knizeci at the far end of a derelict goods yard, but convenient for a bus station and tram stop. They currently leave from (somewhere near?) a platform by the Regiojet carriage sidings called "Smichov West Platform" (and run through from Hlavni).
Then there's Prague Bubny, where they extended the service into a goods siding, built a "platform" and called it Bubny Vltavska - simply to make a convenient interchange with Vltavska Metro station during engineering works (which is still in use). Shows what's possible with ground level platforms

 

[raetiamann]

For years we've been visiting the island of Lindau, in the south west corner of Bayern, which is arrived at via a causeway. The Hbf has until now been accepting electric trains from the Swiss and Austrian federal railways, journeying round the lake from Bregenz in Austria. Meanwhile the German trains, which greatly outnumber the electrics are diesel hauled, either DB or ALEX trains. Only platforms 1-3 are electrified and the Swiss have a small number of Re4/4 11 locos specially adapted to run under German centenary.

Approval has been granted to electrify the line from here to Munich, and so this uniqueness will soon end, though trains towards Kempten and Friedrichshafen will continue to be diesel hauled. Adjacent to the station is the harbour on Lake Constance, where there are regular departures to destinations around the lake, and of course the bus station.

 

[rangersac]

In Melbourne, Australia, there's the four-track City Loop which (as the name suggests) takes a good fraction of the city's heavy-rail suburban trains in a loop around the city centre, via several underground stations along the way, to a nominal terminus at Flinders Street station.

Reversible lines are reasonably common on urban railways around the world to deal with peak flows, but I'm not aware of anywhere else like these three stations, where every platform changes its direction in the middle of the day.

This was certainly the case when the City Loop opened, but now the Hurstbridge and Mernda lines (red lines) only travel around the loop in a clockwise direction. I believe this decision was because the tunnel portal required a flat crossing in the AM to access which often resulting in delays to outbound services

 

[raetiamann]

When I was in Melbourne for AusRail in 2015, there was much talk of a second river crossing. Is that going ahead?

 

[30907]

For years we've been visiting the island of Lindau, in the south west corner of Bayern, which is arrived at via a causeway. The Hbf has until now been accepting electric trains from the Swiss and Austrian federal railways, journeying round the lake from Bregenz in Austria. Meanwhile the German trains, which greatly outnumber the electrics are diesel hauled, either DB or ALEX trains. Only platforms 1-3 are electrified and the Swiss have a small number of Re4/4 11 locos specially adapted to run under German centenary.

Approval has been granted to electrify the line from here to Munich, and so this uniqueness will soon end, though trains towards Kempten and Friedrichshafen will continue to be diesel hauled. Adjacent to the station is the harbour on Lake Constance, where there are regular departures to destinations around the lake, and of course the bus station.

The line to Friedrichshafen and Ulm is also being electified ATM, while a new statin is being built at Reutin on the mainland allowing IC/EC trains to avoid the reversal. Hbf remains for regional trains, and the Kempten route stays diesel.

 

[rangersac]

When I was in Melbourne for AusRail in 2015, there was much talk of a second river crossing. Is that going ahead?

Yes, it's part of the Metro tunnel project: https://metrotunnel.vic.gov.au/

 

[raetiamann]

Yes, it's part of the Metro tunnel project: https://metrotunnel.vic.gov.au/

Thanks for that.

 

[alex397]

I think Liechtenstein's railway needs a mention. A very basic service, with 4-5 trains a day on Mon-Fri, mostly during 'peaks' but there is one around midday which I observed earlier this year (very few people got on/off). The main station in the country is Schaan-Vaduz, with just one platform, and the station looked unstaffed. The capital Vaduz doesn't have a station, the closest being at Schaan (hence the station name). It is operated by OBB, the Austrian state railway, with 2 car (I think they were 2 car) trains.

Schaan-Vaduz has quite a traditional historic building (which I think still had a waiting room inside), right opposite the very modern bus station at Schaan. Plenty of other trains pass along this line, without stopping in Liechtenstein. There are 2 other stations on the line

This contrasts to the frequent and modern bus network, which even includes double-deckers. On my observations, it seems most people enter/ exit the country by train at Buchs (Switzerland) or Feldkirch (Austria) and use the buses which are much busier.

If you ever visit Innsbruck, it's possible to visit Liechtenstein on a day trip which is what I did. It was certainly a bizarre experience (in a good way!)

 

[JonasB]

Maybe Hallstatt should be mentioned as well. Where the railway station is on the other side of the lake from the village and you need to take a ferry to get to the train.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I think Liechtenstein's railway needs a mention. A very basic service, with 4-5 trains a day on Mon-Fri, mostly during 'peaks' but there is one around midday which I observed earlier this year (very few people got on/off). The main station in the country is Schaan-Vaduz, with just one platform, and the station looked unstaffed. The capital Vaduz doesn't have a station, the closest being at Schaan (hence the station name). It is operated by OBB, the Austrian state railway, with 2 car (I think they were 2 car) trains.

Schaan-Vaduz has quite a traditional historic building (which I think still had a waiting room inside), right opposite the very modern bus station at Schaan. Plenty of other trains pass along this line, without stopping in Liechtenstein. There are 2 other stations on the line

This contrasts to the frequent and modern bus network, which even includes double-deckers. On my observations, it seems most people enter/ exit the country by train at Buchs (Switzerland) or Feldkirch (Austria) and use the buses which are much busier.

If you ever visit Innsbruck, it's possible to visit Liechtenstein on a day trip which is what I did. It was certainly a bizarre experience (in a good way!)

Yes - bizarre little country; operates almost as part of Switzerland for some purposes (eg currency [and buses] - though it is officially part of the EEA, as Austria is, whilst Switzerland isn't), and almost as part of Austria for others (eg railways).

The 4-5 trains a day mentioned are indeed outnumbered by all the other trains running through Lichtenstein, day and night, which almost never stop there - namely the international trains on the one and only east-west [OK - actually pretty wiggly in those parts] route between Austria and Switzerland.

 

[Beebman]

Yes - bizarre little country; operates almost as part of Switzerland for some purposes (eg currency [and buses] - though it is officially part of the EEA, as Austria is, whilst Switzerland isn't), and almost as part of Austria for others (eg railways).

The 4-5 trains a day mentioned are indeed outnumbered by all the other trains running through Lichtenstein, day and night, which almost never stop there - namely the international trains on the one and only east-west [OK - actually pretty wiggly in those parts] route between Austria and Switzerland.

Another piece of trivia about the route is that ÖBB continues to own the infrastructure for another 900m or so on the Swiss side of the border with Liechtenstein as this SBB official diagram shows:



Source: http://bt9.ch/files/ausf__hrungsbestimmungen_ab_fdv_2012.pdf (page 40 of 291; page 90 shows something similar happening at St.Margrethen with the SBB/ÖBB infrastructure boundary)

 

[181]

Prague Hlavni: The historic station building is cut off from the city by a dual carriageway, and you enter through a modern building on the city side of the road; if you look up when on the way to the platforms, you find that you have passed under the road and are in the bottom of the old building, but if I remember rightly it's not obvious unless you look up.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Prague Hlavni: The historic station building is cut off from the city by a dual carriageway, and you enter through a modern building on the city side of the road; if you look up when on the way to the platforms, you find that you have passed under the road and are in the bottom of the old building, but if I remember rightly it's not obvious unless you look up.

That's right - the magnificent old Art Nouveau station building (from which you can still access the platforms) is hidden away above the new (as is currently in vogue) underground-shopping-mall-with-a-railway-station-attached. It's the one place on the station which is a quiet [it's largely ignored by the locals, from what I could see], attractive place to stop for a coffee if you have time before your train. But it is indeed well hidden: from the new station entrance hall (and metro access) - which incidentally trashed half of the park; what's left of the green space there is pretty miserable - you go down (to what's underneath a main road) to the [double-level, if I remember correctly] mall-plus-station-facilities, and from there, to get to the platforms, you're sent on through a depressing tunnel until you get to the steps up to your platform (platforms which are themselves devoid of any facilities). But if you ignore the route through the tunnel, and can find the one appropriate up-escalator/stairs from the mall, you can go up to this gloriously attractive old building at platform level. (Though it only provides direct - ie without having to go up and down stairs - access to one platform.)

Incidentally, the city's first (19th century) main station, not far away, and now used for regional trains - Praha Masarykovo n - does still have its lovely original frontage on display from the road. But be careful of the trams running past if stepping back into the road to admire the building in slippery weather; I nearly came a cropper!

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

The "new" station was built in the 1970s and refurbished in 2011.

(I know that you wrote "new (as is currently in vogue)" but people might not realise how old it is.)

 

[AlbertBeale]

The "new" station was built in the 1970s and refurbished in 2011.

(I know that you wrote "new (as is currently in vogue)" but people might not realise how old it is.)

Aha - do you mean the underground shopping mall (and station on the side) dates back to the 1970s? In that case I must have misjudged its age on account of its more recent refurbishment; I'd assumed the modern replacement for the old Art Nouveau station was more recent than that. But if they put it underground that long ago, then of course such "modern" ideas were already in vogue in the '70s ... as was the idea of then putting a city centre multi-lane road on top!

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

And Czechoslovakia was a Communist dictatorship, so the authorities could simply ignore any protests against the sacrifice of parkland to make way for the station and highway.

 

[duesselmartin]

I could toss in the Vatican station. One departure per week ( saturday to Castel Gandolfo) and No arrival.

 

[MarcVD]

Qamchik tunnel, Uzbekistan. Not a station, but one of the most bizzare railway places I have ever been. This tunnel was built in order to allow uzbek railways to serve the Ferghana valley without crossing into Tadjikistan. It goes between Angren and Pap, and is considered as a national strategic asset. Before entering the tunnel, the train slows down, and a message in 3 languages is broadcasted, instructing passengers not to use any electronic devices, and not to take any picture or video. At the same moment, train personnel goes down the whole train, closing all window blinds : forbidden to look outside ! The train the crosses the tunnel while all passengers respect a quasi religious silence...

I undestand that during the cold war, foreign travellers were allowed on some trans siberian trains, albeit not as far as Vladivistok, that was a city forbidden to strangers. When the train line was close to the chinese border, it was also forbidden to look through the windows on the train's south side. But to find such a similar experience in 2016...

 

[Beebman]

I undestand that during the cold war, foreign travellers were allowed on some trans siberian trains, albeit not as far as Vladivistok, that was a city forbidden to strangers. When the train line was close to the chinese border, it was also forbidden to look through the windows on the train's south side. But to find such a similar experience in 2016...

During the 1970s, Railway World Annual used to have articles written by travel author Christopher Portway about his train journey adventures overseas. The 1973 edition has one of his stories entitled 'Hard Class to Vladivostock' when he 'escaped' from his Soviet Intourist guide in Khabarovsk in the far east of the country and with the help of a friendly local he managed to buy a one-way ticket to Vladivostock. He then succeeded in getting a ticket back by convincing the booking clerk that he was a diplomat by waving his Barclaycard! He was worried about surveillance in the city and he did think at one point he was being watched but he managed to escape his follower. (He mentions that during part of the journey he was about 5 miles from the Chinese border but he doesn't say anything about being forbidden to look out.)

 

[stut]

That's the other detached station I was thinking of back at #7.
A few years ago the "Prague Semmering" trains started from a tiny platform called Na Knizeci at the far end of a derelict goods yard, but convenient for a bus station and tram stop. They currently leave from (somewhere near?) a platform by the Regiojet carriage sidings called "Smichov West Platform" (and run through from Hlavni).
Then there's Prague Bubny, where they extended the service into a goods siding, built a "platform" and called it Bubny Vltavska - simply to make a convenient interchange with Vltavska Metro station during engineering works (which is still in use). Shows what's possible with ground level platforms

And while we're on Prague, there's also the "Western Platform" at Holesovice - quite some distance from the main station, and serving trains heading from Dejvice into Hl. N. (although that line is currently closed for engineering at the moment). It's quite a forlorn little station, particularly considering Holesovice's former status as Eurocity hub:

While I'm here though... I seem to remember taking a suburban train somewhere in central Europe - I believe it was Prague - and it went through a station on the way to the terminus, on an elevated line. Can't remember if there were platforms or not. Is there somewhere in Prague (or one of the other CE cities) like that?

 

[stut]

And if we like strange, isolated little platforms, what about Copenhagen H's platform 26? It was originally conceived as a rush hour relief platform for the busy station, with (IIRC) diesel trains heading off to Nykobing Sjaelland going from here. The idea was simple enough - create a platform just outside the station where the tracks have split and there's a bit more room. There's direct access from the road bridge on Tietensgade, but from the main station, you have to go along one of the main platforms, up to the road bridge, along a bit, and back down again.

It was disused for a bit, but then found new life serving the SJ X2000 services to Stockholm when Sweden decided to enforce immigration controls on people coming from Denmark.

Odd little platform:

It's an interesting station, Copenhagen H. It's a stocky, castle-like building, with a lovely old train shed. It's next to a slightly dodgy area (for Denmark) so can have a bit of an atmosphere at times. Plus, it's got a great old Nixie Tube clock: