Railway stations with border crossing infrastructure

[Cloud Strife]

A bit of an esoteric question, but:

I'm trying to create a list of known border crossings which are or were historically physically located inside railway stations. I'm specifically excluding those where controls are only carried out on the train (such as Mościska II in Ukraine) - there needs to be actual physical infrastructure within the station to count. Likewise, examples such as Ostritz/Krzewina Zgorzelecka doesn't count, because no physical infrastructure existed in the station.

Austria:
Salzburg

Belarus:
Brest
Grodno

Belgium:
Bruxelles-Midi/Zuid
Raeren

Bulgaria:
Svilengrad

Canada:
Pacific Central Vancouver

China:
Beijing Xi (Mainland-HongKong)
Shanghai (Mainland-HongKong)
Changping (Mainland-HongKong)
Guangzhou Dong (Mainland-HongKong)
↑ Will be closed officially later
Pingxiang
Erlian
Suifenhe
Manzhouli
Alashankou
Ceke
Khorgas

Czech Republic:
Decin (unconfirmed - a sign existed on the platform for customs, but I'm not sure if this was an actual physical border crossing, or just an office for declaring goods)
Železná Ruda

Denmark:
Rødby F.

East Germany (border with West Germany only):
Berlin-Friedrichstraße
Marienborn
Probstzella

Estonia:
Narva

France:
Bourg-Saint-Maurice
Cerbère
Calais-Frethun
Hendaye
Latour-de-Carol
Lille-Europe
Marne-la-Vallee
Paris-Gare du Nord

Germany:
Aachen
Bayerisch Eisenstein
Emmerich
Flensburg
Gorlitz
Konstanz
Puttgarden
Zittau

Hungary:
Sopron
Szentgotthard

Hong Kong:
Lo Wu

Ireland:
Dublin Connolly/Amiens Street
Dundalk

Italy:
Ventimiglia
Tirano RhB

Laos:
Thanaleng

Lithuania:
Vilnius

Malaysia
Padang Besar

Poland:
Kostrzyn nad Odrą
Krościenko
Terespol - international station (on the other side of the tracks from the domestic station)
Przemyśl - international station (likewise - although this seems to be only in use again since the war in Ukraine)
Stołpce

Romania:
Ungheni Prut

Russia:
Chernyshevskoye

Singapore:
Woodlands Train Checkpoint

Slovakia:
Bratislava-Petrzalka

Sweden:
Haparanda

Switzerland:
Basel SNCF/SBB
Basel Badischer Bahnhof
Chiasso
Geneva-Cornavin
Konstanz

Soviet Union
Negoreloe

Spain:
Canfranc
Irun
Portbou

Thailand:
Nong Kahi

The Netherlands:
Amsterdam Central
Nijmegen
Roosendaal
Rotterdam Central

Turkey:
Kapikoy
Kapikule

Ukraine:
Chop

UK:
Ashford International
Belfast Central
Belfast Great Victoria Street
Ebbsfleet International
Goraghwood
London Victoria
London St Pancras International
Strabane
Waterloo International

If anyone has anything to add, whether contemporary or historical - please let me know!

 

[StephenHunter]

Salzburg in Austria had them on the platform.

Victoria had controls for the Night Ferry and a customs warehouse.

 

[Bertone]

Hong Kong / China
Lo Wu

Also possibly -
Hong Kong West Kowloon

 

[Howardh]

Can you board Eurostar at Ashford? If so presumably there are border controls there??

 

[DanielB]

Rotterdam Central and Amsterdam Central in the Netherlands obviously have them in their Eurostar facilities.

As far as I know those are the only border control facilities within stations the Netherlands ever had. Roosendaal and Maastricht have quite large buildings which used to house customs and other border control related staff, but I don't remember actual border checks inside the station.

 

[Beebman]

Allegedly Sopron in Hungary had such controls, but I can't find any evidence of them. If anyone has anything to add, whether contemporary or historical - please let me know!

Back in April 1992 I did a day trip to Sopron from Wien and my passport was checked at the station both on arrival and departure.

Also sometime in the early 90s when I was touring northern Germany I did a quick side trip into Denmark from Flensburg where I had to pass through passport control on the station.

I believe that there may have been passport control at Bayerisch Eisenstein station but I can't confirm that.

 

[Howardh]

Rotterdam Central and Amsterdam Central in the Netherlands obviously have them in their Eurostar facilities.

As far as I know those are the only border control facilities within stations the Netherlands ever had. Roosendaal and Maastricht have quite large buildings which used to house customs and other border control related staff, but I don't remember actual border checks inside the station.

Not now as they are within Schengen, but any rail stations in Monaco? Would they have ever had custom checks with France?

 

[miklcct]

Hong Kong / China
Lo Wu

Also possibly -
Hong Kong West Kowloon

Lo Wu
Lok Ma Chau
Hung Hom
Hong Kong West Kowloon

This is the complete list for Hong Kong.

And the corresponding list in mainland China is:
Lo Wu: Luohu (doesn't count - separate building)
Lok Ma Chau: Futian Checkpoint (in the same building as the railway station - the trains are under ground and the border crossing is above ground)
Hung Hom: Guangzhou East / Shanghai / Beijing West (all within the railway station)
Hong Kong West Kowloon: Hong Kong West Kowloon (both checks in the same building)

In the case of Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau, passengers take a domestic train in Hong Kong, do the Hong Kong crossing in the station, then walk across the border bridge and do the mainland China crossing on the opposite side of the river, with no requirement to take trains in the Chinese side. The train is the only way to access Lo Wu crossing in Hong Kong, while for Lok Ma Chau, it's possible to use a bus or minibus instead of a train as well.

In the case of Hung Hom, the train itself is sterile with border crossing taken before and after.

In the case of Hong Kong West Kowloon, the train itself is considered within mainland with part of the station "leased" to the mainland for the purpose of border crossing.

 

[eddp]

As far as I'm aware Cerbère/Portbou on the French/Spanish border had infrastructure for border checks (and I've had my passport checked at both a couple of times). I'm not sure whether Puigcerdà/La Tour de Carol do/did but I would have thought so.

 

[Ken H]

Ventemiglia?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Cerbère/Portbou
Ventimiglia
Kapikule/Svilengrad (Turkey/Bulgaria)

There must be Schengen controls at Hoek van Holland, but maybe integrated with the ferry terminal.
Do airports with stations count (eg Schiphol)?

There are several places where you might stay on the train, but your passports are removed and returned after processing in the station.
eg Biharkeresztes/Episcopia Bihor (HU/RO), Giurgiu/Ruse (RO/BG), Šid (HR/RS).

Prior to the recent war there were checks on the Lviv-bound platform at Przemyśl, and again on the train on both sides of the PL/UA border.

 

[Calthrop]

Czech Republic:
Decin (unconfirmed - a sign existed on the platform for customs, but I'm not sure if this was an actual physical border crossing, or just an office for declaring goods)

Cannot resist responding here; having spent time at Decin (not crossing the border) in the course of doing rather ill-planned "railwaying" in those parts in 1981. The following may be well-known to you, and not really what you're "after" per your OP; but Decin is some ten kilometres south of the Czech Rep. / Germany Dolni Zleb / Schoena actual border crossing (this has been a border location since before there were railways -- at outset of railway age, was between the Austrian Empire, and Saxony). It would seem conceivable that actual customs controls might take place / have taken place at Decin, as the first / last community of any significance, on the south side of the border.

 

[AlterEgo]

Strabane in Northern Ireland used to have customs infrastructure, as it was the border crossing point; it was quite limited and I believe consisted of an office manned by a single officer, but it counts! As you can see, customs checks took place on the platform.

 

[30907]

If you mean Customs and Immigration controls, then Dover Marine, Folkestone Harbour, Newhaven Marine, Harwich PQ (?still existing) and of course their onetime mainland equivalents from Dieppe to Hoek.

An actual border (CZ/DE) runs through the middle of Zelezna Ruda/Bayerisch Eisenstein; it was closed c1945-90 and post-Schengen is disused.

Brenner/Brennero (AT/IT, since 1918) is similar, though the passenger station is almost entirely within Italy.

BTW Geneva is Cornavin.

 

[zwk500]

Can you board Eurostar at Ashford? If so presumably there are border controls there??

You used to be able to, but since COVID it's been suspended. Similarly with Ebbsfleet International. Famously Stratford International has never seen an international train, and I believe that although it has the space designed into the station, no border post has ever been established there.
Waterloo did of course have controls when Eurostar called there. France currently has Eurostar trains calling at Lille-Europe so I guess there's a border control in the station there, although Calais-Frethun may have suffered the same fate as Ashford and Ebbsfleet. I'm not sure what the situation is a Marne-le-Vallee (for Disneyland).

 

[Monarch010]

Pacific Central Vancouver has facilities for border rin both directions by train.

 

[67thave]

Niagara Falls (NY) has customs facilities in the station building.

 

[Beebman]

About two-thirds of the way down the French-language page in the following link (an article about female Italian workers helping a post-war labour shortage in Switzerland) there's a photo from 1950 showing customs checks taking place in Chiasso station:

Les Italiennes de Migros

 

[Austriantrain]

Back in April 1992 I did a day trip to Sopron from Wien and my passport was checked at the station both on arrival and departure.

Sopron did have such facilities, mainly for the „corridor“ ÖBB trains to Deutschkreutz and beyond. IIRC, right until Hungary joined Schengen.

 

[P Binnersley]

Posadas, Argentina has border controls for the commuter line to Encarnacion in Paraguay.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Thank you everyone for your contributions so far! I'll reply to each comment in turn:

Victoria had controls for the Night Ferry

I've seen a picture of this - did it work in both directions, or just UK-France?

I believe that there may have been passport control at Bayerisch Eisenstein station but I can't confirm that.

Now this is an interesting question. My knowledge up until now is that the only border crossing was outside, to the rear of the station, which was a tourist border crossing and limited to only certain nationalities. However, I've done some searching again, and this picture appeared:



It seems from doing more digging that there were indeed full border controls on the platform, but they were later replaced with controls on the platform next to the station building. It seems that the later controls were of a tourist nature, so not everyone/everything was controlled, unlike in the picture above. I'm going to research more, but I've definitely found evidence of the border control being carried out on the platform next to the station building.

Cannot resist responding here; having spent time at Decin (not crossing the border) in the course of doing rather ill-planned "railwaying" in those parts in 1981. The following may be well-known to you, and not really what you're "after" per your OP; but Decin is some ten kilometres south of the Czech Rep. / Germany Dolni Zleb / Schoena actual border crossing (this has been a border location since before there were railways -- at outset of railway age, was between the Austrian Empire, and Saxony). It would seem conceivable that actual customs controls might take place / have taken place at Decin, as the first / last community of any significance, on the south side of the border.

Yes, it does seem very plausible that the controls took place there. It seems more likely than the train stopping at Dolní Žleb, which raises the question as to whether there were also corresponding controls in Bad Schandau? I'm not sure what the situation is a

Marne-la-Vallee

Good spot - there are border controls there!

Sopron did have such facilities, mainly for the „corridor“ ÖBB trains to Deutschkreutz and beyond. IIRC, right until Hungary joined Schengen.

Thank you and thank you also to Beebman - I'll take that as a confirmation!

Also, thank you to everyone that has contributed so far - I really appreciate any and all hints, tips and experiences!

 

[melon68]

From my memories of Interrails in the late 80s Monaco may have had border posts if leaving the station but there were no checks required for the through Nice-Genoa service. Over on the border between Belgium and France, there was a border post crossing into France at Tourcoing on the Brussels to Lille line. The French customs gave my mates and I a very thorough inspection after seeing that we'd visited Amsterdam earlier in the day! The other services that I went on had inspections on the train rather than at the stations.

 

[Howardh]

Just wonder if anyone on here travelled across the Berlin Wall and called at Fredrikstrasse (?) which could be described as the mother of all border crossings?

 

[StephenHunter]

Just wonder if anyone on here travelled across the Berlin Wall and called at Fredrikstrasse (?) which could be described as the mother of all border crossings?

Too young for that, but the old exit control building at Friedrichstrasse, known as the "Palace of Tears", is now a museum and frankly better than Checkpoint Charlie, as it's what the Germans had to deal with.

Thank you everyone for your contributions so far! I'll reply to each comment in turn:



I've seen a picture of this - did it work in both directions, or just UK-France?

UK entry/exit and just for the sleeping car passengers. The seated passengers did their checks at Dover Marine, hence you had two lots of catering vehicles to segregate the passengers.

There were also customs facilities for checked baggage.

 

[The exile]

Just wonder if anyone on here travelled across the Berlin Wall and called at Fredrikstrasse (?) which could be described as the mother of all border crossings?

Oh yes. Even doing the interchange between West Berlin U-Bahn lines there was quite disconcerting the first time.

Too young for that, but the old exit control building at Friedrichstrasse, known as the "Palace of Tears", is now a museum and frankly better than Checkpoint Charlie, as it's what the Germans had to deal with.

Or indeed anyone going between East and West Berlin by S-Bahn.

 

[zwk500]

France:
Marne-le-Vallee

Full name is Marne-la-Vallee-Chessy (gendered nouns are a personal pitfall!), according to Wikipedia. The situation at Bourg-Saint-Maurice is slightly unclear - the station article on Wikpedia suggests the customs are within the station building, but the source linked to suggests it's a cabin on the platform. Can anybody confirm which it is? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourg-Saint-Maurice_station#cite_note-1

UK:
Ashford
Ebbsfleet
London Victoria
London St Pancras
Strabane

Ashford and Ebbsfleet both feel strange without the International suffix, although for some reason St Pancras doesn't. Is there a reason you've included Victoria but not Waterloo, given customs facilities are historic only at both termini? It's your list, so your choice, just interested in your criteria so can pick suggestions more helpfully.

 

[melon68]

Just wonder if anyone on here travelled across the Berlin Wall and called at Fredrikstrasse (?) which could be described as the mother of all border crossings?

Yes, on an Inter-rail in 89 as we were travelling from the suburbs of West Berlin to East Berlin. It would have been quicker to get off at Zoo and walk through Checkpoint Charlie! I don't think we travelled any further but had to enter the DDR at the station with the German travellers, it was summer 1989 so close to the end of the partition.

 

[181]

Görlitz, if I understand correctly what you're asking about. I arrived there from Poland in 1995, at a platform with a fence along it and a gate in the fence where I experienced a (fairly cursory) check before being allowed into the rest of the station. Through passengers were I think checked on the train (certainly that was my experience in 1998). I would imagine that similar arrangements were quite common at border stations.

I would guess that border controls in the station may have been common at break-of-gauge borders where passengers had to change trains anyway.

There are quite a lot of former borders, so there are probably stations which met your criteria in the past but which are now not near a border.

Both those latter categories are illustrated by Negoreloye on what was then the Polish-Soviet border, as briefly described in Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean -- on his journey in 1937 he had to leave one train for the Customs building before eventually boarding the other train.

 

[MarcVD]

Kapikoy at the Turkey-Iran border. Same facilities and border process as in Kapikule.
I suppose that similar facilities also existed at the border stations between Turkey and Syria.

 

[kingston_toon]

In 2012, I travelled from Thanaleng (near Vientiane), Laos to Nong Khai, Thailand on one of the twice-daily cross-border services. Immigration formalities were carried out at the stations on each side and I was able to stand behind the driver for a great view crossing the Friendship Bridge. I think this cute little service still operates, although a new high speed line is also under construction.