Favourite non-UK station

[Jamesrob637]

Looks more than a little bit like Berney Arms!

Right let's send Geoff there

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, a proper terminus, should still be in use for a few years
Walking in Stuttgart is very good, there are hundreds of Staffele, staircases, up and down the hills, many are from the time the leafy suburbs were vineyards

 

[afcjunior]

Friedrichstraße for the history aa well.

 

[Zamracene749]

Porto São Bento for me, a beautiful station in a lovely city. I also like the majestic scale of Budapest Keleti, and the Fantova Kavarna at Prague Hlavni is gorgeous. Uelzen with it's quirky design is a great little station. I'll also throw in a couple of less popular ones- Debrecen for it's almost brutalist pure communist era vibe, and Görlitz The art nouveau hall and wonderful blue tiling are a delight to see!

 

[Tester]

La Tor de Querol-Enveig for the oddities!

Yes - three gauges and three electrification systems takes some beating!

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

My favourite station Down Under is Melbourne's Southern Cross (formerly Spencer Street).

Many might disagree on this choice - the station was redeveloped wholesale along with the adjacent Docklands (for which the station is a gateway) and re-named in the early 2000s, and there's no "old railway" or heritage feel about the place. Southern Cross now looks more like a signature airport terminal with an enormous (and hugely expensive) swooping curved roof.

But the two things I do like about it are:-

1) It's light and airy, with its Number 1 purpose clearly being a big city railway terminal - not some huge shopping mall, or office development with a few cramped, gloomy platforms hidden away somewhere underneath, as can happen with some redevelopments (looking at you, Manchester Victoria)
There are convenience stores, cafes and bars on the concourses, but no more you'd need for a "proper" railway station.

2) With modern railways around the world becoming more homogeneous, bland and "efficient", there's still quite a variety of railway operations to be seen at Southern Cross.
On one side there are through platforms with a continuous procession of EMUs running around the Melbourne city loop to suburban destinations (S-Bahn style).
Then there are terminal platforms with various regional / commuter DMUs to nearby cities like Geelong & Ballarat, and loco-hauled "inter-city" trains to more distant places in Victoria. At peak hours, these arrivals & departures are pretty frequent and can be easily observed from a pedestrian footbridge (without needing to swipe your Myki card).
At the eastern side of the station are platforms for interstate trains to Sydney and Adelaide. These last two, plus a few of the regional Victorian trains run on standard gauge, whereas most of the rest of the tracks are 1600mm broad gauge. So quite a bit of variety and interest there.

Southern Cross Station by Bidgee, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Ah yes Southern Cross. Come for the trains. Stay for the hearing loss and diesel fumes.
At least it's close to Marvel Stadium for the football.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Yes - three gauges and three electrification systems takes some beating!

I've arrived at the station on each of the three different routes, but only departed on two of them. At some point I'll try to go downhill on the Cerdagne line (the metre-gauge route to Villefranche) to complete the set!

 

[rg177]

Rotterdam Centraal I do enjoy for its generally modern and futuristic feel. Its also the first place I arrived into on my first ever Interrail aged 18, so its a station I'll always hold a little bit dear!

Kyoto (JR) for a similar reason- albeit on an even larger scale!

Also agreed with the likes of Leipzig Hbf and Antwerpen Centraal.

 

[Derbyshire Gra]

I would nominate Antwerp Central for a superb combination of ancient and modern - with three levels of tracks and the superb cathedral hall at the front. For something else modern, you cannot better the superb lines of Liege Guillemins

 

[DanielB]

Agree with Antwerpen Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal, as well as Berlin Hbf which was also mentioned earlier.

But with regards to futuristic looks I've always found Arnhem Centraal a special one (see Station Arnhem Centraal officieel geopend - architectenweb.nl for some pictures). Quite an inprovement from the temporary station that preceded it, as the new station took ages to build due to funding issues. (The corkscrew like pillar in the concourse was originally supposed to be constructed from concrete, but that would have cost a fortune so they had to re-engineer the structure and build it from steel instead)

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Antwerp has been mentioned several times, my chance to recommend 'Austerlitz' by W G Sebald, on the first page he describes how he used to frequently travel to Belgium, he was not quite sure why, when one day he found himself in Antwerp train station
There is a lot more to the book than that..

 

[317666]

The mention of a few Dutch stations both in this thread and its counterpart reminds me of Haarlem, which is lovely.

Further afield, I'm also a big fan of the old Otto Wagner-designed stations you get in Vienna on the Vorortelinie (S45), as well as U-Bahn lines 4 and 6.

 

[Ken H]

I think zoo, Friedrichstrasse and Alexanderplatz stations trump Hbf in berlin. But on the s-bahn Hackescher Markt is lovely. Check out the patterened brickwork - https://l450v.alamy.com/450v/r9a99w...ick-interior-platform-mitte-berlin-r9a99w.jpg

and on the u-bahn, gorlitzer banhof station is a gem - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...tion_goerlitzer-bahnhof_20050309_p1010364.jpg

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Werbig is one of my favourites in Germany, upstairs downstairs, a bit like Tamworth but smaller

 

[raetiamann]

I think zoo, Friedrichstrasse and Alexanderplatz stations trump Hbf in berlin. But on the s-bahn Hackescher Markt is lovely. Check out the patterened brickwork - https://l450v.alamy.com/450v/r9a99w...ick-interior-platform-mitte-berlin-r9a99w.jpg

and on the u-bahn, gorlitzer banhof station is a gem - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...tion_goerlitzer-bahnhof_20050309_p1010364.jpg

My hotels of choice in Berling were the Melia and NH Hotel, both by Friedrichstr. The NH had the added advantage of rooms overlooking the station and the tracks. Friedrichstr, Hackescher Markt and Alex all have the benefit of a Maredo restaurant nearby, though the Alex one is quite inferior to the other two.

 

[Whisky Papa]

My favourites have already been covered - Porto SãoBento, Prague Masarykovo and Antwerp Centraal. I also seem to recall Haarlem as being quite impressive, but for a real slice of modern Dutch architectural craziness, Zaandam must be hard to beat, not just the station but the adjacent town centre (spin the GSV through 360 degrees!).

On a smaller scale, I was much struck by the Art Deco charms of Albenga on Italy's Ligurian coast, although it looks a little scruffier in this view that I remember from 2012.

 

[sprunt]

My hotels of choice in Berling were the Melia and NH Hotel, both by Friedrichstr. The NH had the added advantage of rooms overlooking the station and the tracks. Friedrichstr, Hackescher Markt and Alex all have the benefit of a Maredo restaurant nearby, though the Alex one is quite inferior to the other two.

If you head out east a bit to the Abacus Tierpark hotel, you might be lucky enough to get a view of a U-bahn depot from your room.



Also, while talking about Berlin U-bahn stations, I'll give a shout out to Wittenbergplatz, both for its original features and its strangely familiar branding.

 

[317666]

As far as the Berlin U-Bahn goes, I think Heidelberger Platz is my favourite.

 

[L401CJF]

Definitely Berlin Hauptbahnhof for me! Impressive to say the least and when I was there last, ridiculously clean.

 

[43096]

Alp Grüm was mentioned up thread. For those who haven't had the pleasure...

 

[alex397]

As far as the Berlin U-Bahn goes, I think Heidelberger Platz is my favourite.

I just looked up some images of this station - it does look incredible. Will add that to my ever increasing ‘to-do’ list of Berlin...
After seeing the pictures, I was surprised to see the location of the station - in a suburban part of Berlin next to an Autobahn. Was expecting it to see it more in the centre.

I had forgotten about Wittenbergplatz - perhaps my favourite Berlin U-Bahn station. Not just for the excellent original features, but also the historical artwork which was there.
Also, it was a good place to pick up some BVG maps and leaflets on my last visit, which seemed difficult to find elsewhere.

 

[duesselmartin]

Alp Grüm was mentioned up thread. For those who haven't had the pleasure...

View attachment 87370

There is hardly Swiss station that is not amazing.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is hardly Swiss station that is not amazing.

The "standard" Swiss local station is a bit of a boring concrete monstrosity, really. The thing is, invariably there is amazing scenery behind it

 

[Richard Scott]

The "standard" Swiss local station is a bit of a boring concrete monstrosity, really. The thing is, invariably there is amazing scenery behind it

Geneva airport station?

 

[Jamesrob637]

Geneva airport station?

Add Zürich Flughafen and Basel SBB. Not many mountains behind those either!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Geneva airport station?

Everywhere has to have its own mini-Birmingham New St. At least there aren't any mucky DMUs in there.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Everywhere has to have its own mini-Birmingham New St. At least there aren't any mucky DMUs in there.

Would a diesel have ever gone there?! Probably during construction and maybe once when the wires failed.

 

[delt1c]

For me has be Sydney Central, so many services coming and going. A close 2nd would be Sofia

 

[Richard Scott]

Everywhere has to have its own mini-Birmingham New St. At least there aren't any mucky DMUs in there.

True, still plenty of loco haulage as well (or at least there was last time I went in 2019).

 

[raetiamann]

For me has be Sydney Central, so many services coming and going. A close 2nd would be Sofia

Sydney always had/has a massive Christmas tree on the concourse, which was great with the warmth of the Australian spring/summer.