Genre: Information/Explanation

Broad Green station , Liverpool , shown in 1962 , opened in 1830 , is the oldest station site in the world still in use as a passenger station . Baker Street station , London , opened in 1863 , was the world's first station to be completely underground . Its original part , seen here , is just below the surface and was constructed by cut-and-cover tunnelling . Opened in 2006 , Berlin Hauptbahnhof is a large station at the crossing point of two major railways and features modern , abstract architecture . Berlin had a ring of terminus stations , similar to London and Paris , however they were gradually replaced with through stations from 1882 to 1952 . A train station , railway station , railroad station , or depot ( see below ) is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight . It generally consists of at least one track - side platform and a station building ( depot ) providing such ancillary services as ticket sales and waiting rooms . If a station is on a single-track line , it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements . The smallest stations are most often referred to as " stops " or , in some parts of the world , as " halts " ( flag stops ) . Stations may be at ground level , underground , or elevated . Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses , trams or other rapid transit systems . In Britain and other Commonwealth countries , traditional usage favours railway station or simply station , even though train station , which is often perceived as an Americanism , is now about as common as railway station in writing ; railroad station is not used , railroad being obsolete there . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] In British usage , the word station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified . [ 4 ] In the United States , the most common term in contemporary usage is train station . Railway station and railroad station are less frequent . [ 5 ] In North America , the term depot is used most commonly as an alternative name for station , along with the compound forms train depot , railway depot , and railroad depot , but also applicable for buses and other vehicles , especially in rural areas where it might be understood as a direct equivalent to stop or halt . [ citation needed ] Outside of North America , a depot is " [ a ] place where buses , trains , or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service . " [ 6 ] Grand Central Terminal in New York City is the world's largest station by number of platforms , having 67 tracks on two levels . The world's first recorded railway station was The Mount on the Oystermouth Railway ( later to be known as the Swansea and Mumbles ) in Swansea , Wales , [ 7 ] which began passenger service in 1807 , although the trains were horsedrawn rather than by locomotives . [ 8 ] The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool , built in 1830 , on the Liverpool to Manchester line . As the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road . The station was the first to incorporate a train shed . The station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station . Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal . The first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities . The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , opened in 1830 . [ 10 ] Manchester's Liverpool Road Station , the second oldest terminal station in the world , and the only surviving station , is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester . It resembles a row of Georgian houses . Early stations were sometimes built with both passenger and goods facilities , though some railway lines were goods-only or passenger-only , and if a line was dual-purpose there would often be a goods depot apart from the passenger station . [ 11 ] Dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today , though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations . In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States , passengers wanting to board the train had to flag the train down in order for it to stop . Such stations were known as " flag stops " or " flag stations " . [ 12 ] Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the grandiose architecture of the time , lending prestige to the city as well as to railway operations . [ 13 ] Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture , as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles . Various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations , from those boasting grand , intricate , Baroque - or Gothic - style edifices , to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles . Stations in Europe tended to follow British designs and were in some countries , like Italy , financed by British railway companies . [ 14 ] Stations built more recently often have a similar feel to airports , with a simple , abstract style . Examples of modern stations include those on newer high-speed rail networks , such as the Shinkansen in Japan , TGV lines in France and ICE lines in Germany . Stations usually have staffed ticket sales offices , automated ticket machines , or both , although on some lines tickets are sold on board the trains . Many stations include a shop or convenience store . Larger stations usually have fast-food or restaurant facilities . In some countries , stations may also have a bar or pub . Other station facilities may include : toilets , left-luggage , lost-and-found , departures and arrivals boards , luggage carts , waiting rooms , taxi ranks , bus bays and even car parks . Larger or manned stations tend to have a greater range of facilities including also a station security office . These are usually open for travellers when there is sufficient traffic over a long enough period of time to warrant the cost . In large cities this may mean facilities available around the clock . A basic station might only have platforms , though it may still be distinguished from a halt , a stopping or halting place that may not even have platforms . In many African and South American countries , and in many places in India , stations are used as a place for public markets and other informal businesses . This is especially true on tourist routes or stations near tourist destinations . As well as providing services for passengers and loading facilities for goods , stations can sometimes have locomotive and rolling stock depots ( usually with facilities for storing and refuelling rolling stock and carrying out minor repair jobs ) . In addition to the basic configuration of a station , various features set certain types of station apart . The first is the level of the tracks . Stations are often sited where a road crosses the railway : unless the crossing is a level crossing , the road and railway will be at different levels . The platforms will often be raised or lowered relative to the station entrance : the station buildings may be on either level , or both . The other arrangement , where the station entrance and platforms are on the same level , is also common , but is perhaps rarer in urban areas , except when the station is a terminus . Elevated stations are more common , not including metro stations . Stations located at level crossings can be problematic if the train blocks the roadway while it stops , causing road traffic to wait for an extended period of time . Occasionally , a station serves two or more railway lines at differing levels . This may be due to the station's position at a point where two lines cross ( example : Berlin Hauptbahnhof ) , or may be to provide separate station capacity for two types of service , such as intercity and suburban ( examples : Paris-Gare de Lyon and Philadelphia's 30th Street Station ) , or for two different destinations . Stations may also be classified according to the layout of the platforms . Apart from single-track lines , the most basic arrangement is a pair of tracks for the two directions ; there is then a basic choice of an island platform between , or two separate platforms outside , the tracks . With more tracks , the possibilities expand . Some stations have unusual platform layouts due to space constraints of the station location , or the alignment of the tracks . Examples include staggered platforms , such as at Tutbury and Hatton railway station on the Derby – Crewe line , and curved platforms , such as Cheadle Hulme railway station on the Macclesfield to Manchester Line . Triangular stations also exist where two lines form a three-way junction and platforms are built on all three sides . In a station , there are different types of tracks to serve different purposes . A station may also have a passing loop with a loop line that comes off the straight main line and merge back to the main line on the other end by railroad switches to allow trains to pass . [ 15 ] A track with a spot at the station to board and disembark trains is called station track or house track [ 16 ] regardless of whether it is a main line or loop line . If such track is served by a platform , the track may be called platform track . A loop line without a platform which is used to allow a train to clear the main line at the station only , it is called passing track . [ 15 ] A track at the station without a platform which is used for trains to pass the station without stopping is called through track . [ 16 ] There may be other sidings at the station which are lower speed tracks for other purposes . A maintenance track or a maintenance siding , usually connected to a passing track , is used for parking maintenance equipment , trains not in service , autoracks or sleepers . A refuge track is a dead-end siding that is connected to a station track as a temporary storage of a disabled train . [ 15 ] Opened in 1830 and reached through a tunnel , Liverpool's Crown Street railway station was the first ever railway terminus . The station was demolished after only six years , being replaced by Lime Street Station in the city centre . The tunnel still exists . Opened in 1836 , Spa Road railway station in London was the city's first terminus and also the world's first elevated station and terminus . A " terminal " or " terminus " is a station at the end of a railway line . Trains arriving there have to end their journeys ( terminate ) or reverse out of the station . Depending on the layout of the station , this usually permits travellers to reach all the platforms without the need to cross any tracks – the public entrance to the station and the main reception facilities being at the far end of the platforms . Sometimes , however , the track continues for a short distance beyond the station , and terminating trains continue forwards after depositing their passengers , before either proceeding to sidings or reversing to the station to pick up departing passengers . Bondi Junction is like this . Many terminus stations have underground rapid-transit urban rail stations beneath , to transit passengers to the local city or district . A terminus is frequently , but not always , the final destination of trains arriving at the station . However a number of cities , especially in continental Europe , have a terminus as their main railway stations , and all main lines converge on this station . There may also be a bypass line , used by freight trains that do not need to stop at the main station . In such cases all trains passing through that main station must leave in the reverse direction from that of their arrival . There are several ways in which this can be accomplished : arranging for the service to be provided by a multiple-unit or push-pull train , both of which are capable of operating in either direction ; the driver simply walks to the other end of the train and takes control from the other cab ; this is increasingly the normal method in Europe ; by detaching the locomotive which brought the train into the station and then either using another track to " run it around " to the other end of the train , to which it then re-attaches ; attaching a second locomotive to the outbound end of the train ; or by the use of a " wye " , a roughly triangular arrangement of track and switches ( points ) where a train can reverse direction and back into the terminal . Some termini have a newer set of through platforms underneath ( or above , or alongside ) the terminal platforms on the main level . They are used by a cross-city extension of the main line , often for commuter trains , while the terminal platforms may serve long-distance services . Examples of underground through lines include the Thameslink platforms at St. Pancras in London , the Argyle and North Clyde lines of Glasgow's suburban rail network , the recently built Malmö City Tunnel , in Antwerp in Belgium , the RER at the Gare du Nord in Paris , and many of the numerous S-Bahn lines at terminal stations in Germany , Austria and Switzerland , such as at Zürich Hauptbahnhof . An American example of a terminal with this feature is Washington , DC ' s Union Station , where there are bay platforms on the main concourse level to serve terminating trains , and standard island platforms one level below to serve trains continuing southwards . Those tracks run in a tunnel beneath the concourse and emerge a few blocks away to cross the Potomac River into Virginia . Terminus stations in large cities are by far the biggest stations , with the largest being the Grand Central Terminal in New York City , United States . [ 17 ] Often major cities , such as London , Boston , Paris , Istanbul , Tokyo and Milan have more than one terminus , rather than routes straight through the city . Train journeys through such cities often require alternative transport ( metro , bus , taxi or ferry ) from one terminus to the other . For instance in Istanbul transfers from the Sirkeci Terminal ( the European terminus ) and the Haydarpaşa Terminal ( the Asian terminus ) traditionally required crossing the Bosphorus via alternative means , before the railway tunnel linking Europe and Asia was completed . Though some cities , including New York , have both termini and through lines . Terminals that have competing rail lines using the station frequently set up a jointly owned terminal railroad to own and operate the station and its associated tracks and switching operations . A junction is a station where two or more rail routes converge or diverge . It could be a terminus or an en-route station . During a journey , the term station stop may be used in announcements , to differentiate a halt during which passengers may alight from a halt for another reason , such as a locomotive change . A railway stop is a spot along a railway line , usually between stations or at a seldom-used station , where passengers can board and exit the train . While a junction or interlocking usually divides two or more lines or routes , and thus has remotely or locally operated signals , a station stop does not . A station stop usually does not have any tracks other than the main tracks , and may or may not have switches ( points , crossovers ) . A halt , in railway parlance in the Commonwealth of Nations and Republic of Ireland , is a small station , usually unstaffed or with very few staff , and with few or no facilities . In some cases , trains stop only on request , when passengers on the platform indicate that they wish to board , or passengers on the train inform the crew that they wish to alight . In the United Kingdom , most former halts on the national railway networks have had the word halt removed from their names . Historically , in many instances the spelling " halte " was used , before the spelling " halt " became commonplace . There are only two publicly advertised and publicly accessible National Rail stations with the word " halt " remaining : Coombe Junction and St Keyne Wishing Well . [ 18 ] [ 19 ] A number of other halts are still open and operational on privately owned , heritage , and preserved railways throughout the British Isles . The word is often used informally to describe national rail network stations with limited service and low usage , such as the Oxfordshire Halts on the Cotswold Line . The title halt had also sometimes been applied colloquially to stations served by public services but not available for use by the general public , being accessible only by persons travelling to / from an associated factory ( for example IBM near Greenock – although this is no longer restricted – and British Steel Redcar ) , military base ( such as Lympstone Commando ) or railway yard . The only two such remaining " private " stopping places on the national system where the " halt " designation is still officially used seem to be Staff Halt ( at Durnsford Road , Wimbledon ) and Battersea Pier Sidings Staff Halt - both are solely for railway staff and are not open to passengers . [ 19 ] The Great Western Railway in Great Britain , began opening haltes on 12 October 1903 ; from 1905 , the French spelling was Anglicised to " halt " . These GWR halts had the most basic facilities , with platforms long enough for just one or two carriages ; some had no platform at all , necessitating the provision of steps on the carriages . There was normally no station staff at a halt , tickets being sold on the train . On 1 September 1904 , a larger version , known on the GWR as a " platform " instead of a " halt " , was introduced ; these had longer platforms , and were usually staffed by a senior grade porter , who sold tickets , and sometimes booked parcels or milk consignments . [ 20 ] [ 21 ] From 1903 to 1947 the GWR built 379 halts and inherited a further 40 from other companies at the Grouping of 1923 . Peak building periods were before the First World War ( 145 built ) and 1928-39 ( 198 built ) [ 22 ] ) . Ten more were opened by BR on ex-GWR lines . The GWR also built 34 " platforms " . [ 23 ] In many Commonwealth countries the term " halt " is still used . In the United States such stations are traditionally referred to as flag stops . In the Republic of Ireland , a few small railway stations are designated as " halts " ( Irish : stadanna , sing . stad ) . [ 24 ] Accessibility for people with disabilities is mandated by law in some countries . Considerations include : elevator or ramp access to all platforms , matching platform height to train floors , making wheelchair lifts available when platforms do not match vehicle floors , accessible toilets and pay phones , audible station announcements , and safety measures such as tactile marking of platform edges . Reached by a 1 . 24-mile ( 2 km ) long tunnel , the 1830 Park Lane Goods Terminus at Liverpool's docks was the world's first station built entirely for freight . Goods or freight stations deal exclusively or predominantly with the loading and unloading of goods and may well have marshalling yards ( classification yards ) for the sorting of wagons . The world's first Goods terminal was the 1830 Park Lane Goods Station at the South End Liverpool Docks . Built in 1830 the terminal was reached by a 1 . 24-mile ( 2 km ) tunnel . As goods have been increasingly moved by road , many former goods stations , as well as the goods sheds at passenger stations , have closed . In addition , many goods stations today are used purely for the cross-loading of freight and may be known as transshipment stations . Where they primarily handle containers they are also known as container stations or terminals . Nagoya Station in Japan is the world's tallest station building . The Gare du Nord in France is Europe's busiest station . Clapham Junction , in London , United Kingdom , is the busiest station in terms of rail traffic with an average of one train every 13 seconds at peak times . The world's busiest passenger station , in terms of daily passenger throughput , is Shinjuku Station in Tokyo . [ 25 ] The station was used by an average of 3.64 million people per day in 2007 . In terms of platform capacity , the world's largest station by platforms is Grand Central Terminal in New York City with 44 platforms ; [ 28 ] as part of the East Side Access Project , the MTA will be adding 4 more platforms to accommodate future Long Island Rail Road trains . The world's highest station above ground level ( not above sea level ) is Smith – Ninth Streets subway station in New York City . [ 29 ] [ 30 ] The Shinjuku Station , in Tokyo , is Asia's busiest station by total passenger numbers . [ citation needed ] The Shinjuku Station , in Tokyo , is Asia's largest station by number of platforms [ citation needed ] Clapham Junction , in London , is Europe's busiest station by daily rail traffic ( one train every 13 seconds at peak times ; one train every 30 seconds at off-peak times ) . [ 31 ] Zürich Hauptbahnhof , Switzerland , is Europe's busiest terminus by daily rail traffic ( Clapham Junction is a through station ) . [ citation needed ] Largest Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in Germany is Europe's largest station by floor area ( 21 platforms and several levels of shopping facilities beneath ) . [ citation needed ] Munich Hauptbahnhof is Europe's largest station by number of platforms ( 32 , plus 2 additional lower platforms serving the S-Bahn , plus 6 additional platforms at two levels serving the U-Bahn ) . [ citation needed ] Châtelet-Les Halles , in the centre of Paris , is the busiest underground station in the world . [ citation needed ] Approximately 750,000 passengers pass through it per day . [ 37 ] ^ Morana Lukač ( 12 November 2014 ) . " Railway station or train station ? " . Bridging the Unbridgeable . A project on English usage guides ( blog ) . Leiden , The Netherlands : Leiden University Centre for Linguistics . Retrieved 2015-08-28 . ^ " depot " . Oxford Dictionaries . Oxford University Press . Retrieved 2015-08-28 . 1 A place for the storage of large quantities of equipment , food , or goods ; 2 A place where buses , trains , or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service . ; 2.1 North American : A railway or bus station ^ MacDermot , E.T. ( 1931 ) . " Chapter XI : The Great Awakening " . History of the Great Western Railway . Vol. II ( 1st ed . ) . Paddington : Great Western Railway . p. 428 . ISBN 0-7110-0411-0 . ^ Booker , Frank ( 1985 ) [ 1977 ] . The Great Western Railway : A New History ( 2nd ed . ) . Newton Abbot : David & Charles . pp. 112 – 113 . ISBN 0-946537-16 - X. ^ " BROOKLYN !! " ( Caption on photo from station reopening celebration ) . Summer 2013 . p. 7 . ^ McGill , D. and Sheehan , G. ( 1997 ) Landmarks : Notable historic buildings of New Zealand . Auckland : Godwit Publishing .