Lowest railway station in Europe?

[eddiej]

Hi,

Possibly a strange question to ask, but in relation to elevation gain above/below sea level, which is the lowest railway station in Europe?

I am in the early stages of planning a charity cycle ride, which culminates at the Jungfrau railway station, and there have been many ideas for the starting point of the ride, but it suddenly occurred to me this evening, that rather than looking at lowest land points, that I should perhaps look for the lowest station, and just stick to that theme.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[furnessvale]

Hi,

Possibly a strange question to ask, but in relation to elevation gain above/below sea level, which is the lowest railway station in Europe?

I am in the early stages of planning a charity cycle ride, which culminates at the Jungfrau railway station, and there have been many ideas for the starting point of the ride, but it suddenly occurred to me this evening, that rather than looking at lowest land points, that I should perhaps look for the lowest station, and just stick to that theme.

Many thanks in advance.

Unless you are looking at underground stations I would look around the Netherlands for something in the open air but below sea level.

 

[306024]

I recall there's a spot near Shippea Hill that's a metre below sea level.

Good luck with cycling up the north face of the Eiger, although that's possibly easier than catching a train to Shippea Hill

 

[Cowley]

I recall there's a spot near Shippea Hill that's a metre below sea level.

Good luck with cycling up the north face of the Eiger, although that's possibly easier than catching a train to Shippea Hill

Cycling up the north face of the Eiger. Now that would be impressive.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I've heard it said that Dundee is one of the lowest-lying surface stations on the national network, being just below sea-level. Including burrowed stations I'd hazard a guess that Liverpool James Street will take some beating, though Crossrail's core stations may be deeper still once they open.

 

[Quakkerillo]

In the Netherlands, Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep are both at approximately 4.8m below sea level, where Capelle Schollevaar and Nieuwekerk aan de IJssel are at 4m below.

I think those are the lowest we have

 

[steamybrian]

Can I suggest Rotherhithe and Wapping which must be well below sea level.

 

[Groningen]

The lowest point in the Netherlands at 6,74 meters below sealevel at the town below.

Indeed Nieuwerkerk aan den Ijssel maybe the lowest station in Europe. It is 2500 meters from the lowest point.

 

[cornishjohn]

Unless you are looking at underground stations I would look around the Netherlands for something in the open air but below sea level.

Would it need to be open air? Jungfraujoch is in a tunnel anyway. Does it have to be heavy rail, or is a light rail/metro station acceptable?

Does the means of access have to "comparable" in any way? Is the expedition going to cycle into Jungfraujoch itself (there are other land routes than the North Face .. ) or just take the bike up in a train?

 

[Bevan Price]

The lowest point in Europe is the shore of the Caspian Sea ( -28 metres). Are there any stations adjacent to that sea ?

 

[eddiej]

Hi again, and many thanks for the replies.

Cycling up the North face would certainly be an achievement!

The plan is to cycle through the tunnel at night time, when only infrequent service trains operate.

Initially the ride was just going to be a means of gaining an elevation gain record for continuous climbing using mountain bike.

I've pedalled up from both sides on many occasions, and this year also made it to Birg, which is the next cable car stop below Piz Gloria. Next years quest is to actually reach Piz Gloria by mountain bike.

Riding up to the Top Of Europe was a one of those silly Friday night pub ideas, except that no pub was involved.
After mentioning the idea to a client/friend of mine over here in the UK, and his reply of "leave it to me" suddenly this silly idea is becoming a reality.
Because the ride would be unique in never having been done before, it also dawned upon me that I should capitalize upon things, by extending the ride and try to raise money for a few children's charities along the way. To smooth things along, I shall also be looking at railway related charities, be that benevolent funds or other.

I initially thought of heading off from the lowest place in the UK, then the lowest point in the world, then Europe. I quickly ruled out these options, as beside the distances and risk, I couldn't see the point as the 'Top Of Europe' is only that by name only.

I then started to think railway related, hence my question, and now you have made me think again, in that the ride clearly doesn't need to start on above ground. I hadn't even considered the tunnel option.

Perhaps subject to permission, even the Channel tunnel could be an option. That must go a fair way below sea level!

The frustrating thing is, that the more that I think about and try to plan this ride, the more that the goal posts keep moving.

All good stuff though, and thank you once again for planting yet more ideas in my brain.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Schipol station must be fairly low as the airport is on the bottom of a former lake and the station is underground
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Schipol itself is 3m below sea level and the station is below that

 

[Sarnian]

The lowest point in Europe is the shore of the Caspian Sea ( -28 metres). Are there any stations adjacent to that sea ?

Astrakhan in Russia is about 28 metres below sea level, and has a railway station.

 

[eastwestdivide]

There's a slightly confusing spreadsheet of depths of London Underground stations downloadable from here:
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2011/07/01/how-deep-is-every-tube-station-on-the-underground/
Apparently there's a 100metre discrepancy because London Underground Datum is 100m below Ordnance Datum Newlyn, according to a note on the last sheet of the spreadsheet.

 

[Quakkerillo]

Schipol station must be fairly low as the airport is on the bottom of a former lake and the station is underground
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Schipol itself is 3m below sea level and the station is below that

As this was about lowest, not deepest station, I worked with ground-level heights.