Major cities with train services not all converging at one central station

[enginedin]

If we're counting Manchester, then Liverpool should also count given that Central has greater passenger numbers than Lime Street (and you can travel to Wales and Scotland from Liverpool)!

 

[A S Leib]

Do any services avoiding the North–South connection start at Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel Noord, or does everything call at Midi/Zuid? I know that Frankfurt services skip Central, and that Eurostar services don't call there or at North, but that's still a main station where everything converges if nothing starts at North.

 

[rvdborgt]

Do any services avoiding the North–South connection start at Bruxelles-Nord / Brussel Noord, or does everything call at Midi/Zuid?

Except during engineering works, nothing starts at the north station IIRC. In some years, there were some rush hour trains that started there but I don't think there are currently any.
Here's a map of the Brussels S train network (it also shows the metro and some trams). There are some S trains that don't call at north nor south station.

 

[JonasB]

Stockholm has Central but also Östra which only the suburban Roslagsbanan uses. It's one of my favourite lines because it's a completely captive narrow guage line that has its own terminal and rolling stock. In 2028 the line will be extended to Central, thus removing Stockholm from this list of cities with multiple terminals.

Construction of the tunnel to the central station hasn't even started yet, so it will not be extended in 2028, late 30s is more realistic. But even then Stockholm will remain on the list, Saltsjöbanan will soon return to Slussen and terminate there.

We can also add Copenhagen to the list as some trains bypass the central station and use Copenhagen south instead.

 

[railfan99]

Adelaide, South Australia has its centrally located, historic broad gauge (1600mm) city terminus for all suburban trains but for many years what are now 'Journey Beyonds' trains - 'Indian Pacific', 'The Overland' and seasonal 'The Ghan' and 'Great Southern' have used a purpose-built standard gauge (1435mm) terminal at Keswick, now called Adelaide Parklands.

Of the latter trains only 'The Overland' (twice weekly Adelaide-Melbourne-Adelaide) could be called a regular intercity train, though its interstate fares are high compared to the surface transport alternative of road coaches. Victorian intrastate passengers can however travel on it for a bargain V/Line fare. The others are luxury tourist trains priced accordingly, with all-inclusive fares tending to rise above inflation each year.

 

[Hbbz9392]

In Istanbul and “Kocaeli” there are currently three stations where railway services terminate/originate. I will do some querying, this might get updates.

Halkalı is where all trains coming from abroad terminate (except Orient Express which terminates at Sirkeci). It’s also where a lot of YHT lines (domestic high-speed railway lines), the Edirne regional railway (which is currently being worked on to be converted to YHT), the Uzunköprü regional railway, Marmaray (S-bahn like subway system which serves Istanbul and “Kocaeli”), the Bahçeşehir subway and the Sofia express originate.

Söğütlüçeşme recently got a huge terminal/shopping center done. It‘s a place where some YHT lines originate and terminate. In addition the Metrobus (BRT) system originates a short walk away from the station.

Gebze is currently where Ada Ekspresi (a limited stop regional railway starting from Adapazarı) and Marmaray terminates. It’s also served by some YHT lines.

honorable mention: Sirkeci, which is used as a terminus by the reincarnated Orient Express only

 

[railfan99]

Not a very good example due to the 'Indian Pacific' only operating once a week, but it uses East Perth rather than Perth city station.

The latter sees the 'Australind' rural service to Bunbury, Western Australia plus all suburban trains.

Buenos Aires, Argentina is another example but I've not recently been there.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If we're counting Manchester, then Liverpool should also count given that Central has greater passenger numbers than Lime Street (and you can travel to Wales and Scotland from Liverpool)!

I suppose it depends on whether you consider Merseyrail to be a metro or part of the rail network. It's sort of both, but given its context I don't think anyone would be suggesting Newcastle and that Monument was the other one, so perhaps not?

Having said that, the Snow Hill Lines are basically a non-underground, diesel version of Merseyrail. So it's all quite blurred!

 

[NCT]

Merseryrail is technically part of National Rail and I do count Berlin-style S-bahn systems. Merseyrail's Northern Line doesn't serve Lime Street in the same way Berlin's north-south S-bahn doesn't serve Hbf (until S15 opens at least).

 

[The exile]

Has anyone mentioned Dortmund yet? The S4 doesnt go to the Hbf yet runs through the city.

 

[NorthOxonian]

New York with Grand Central and Penn Station

There do seem to be proposals to reduce this - currently intercity trains and commuter trains from New Jersey and (in general) Long Island use Penn while Grand Central gets commuter trains from the Hudson Valley and southwestern Connecticut along with a few from Long Island. That means only the "Metro North" services really lack a connection with Penn Station, and there seem to be plans to enable most of those to access Penn through various routes. I assume Grand Central will retain a fairly good service - not least as I believe the line to White Plains and Wassaic won't get such a link, and also Grand Central provides for journeys to busy areas like Harlem which will be bypassed by these links.

The length of some of the commuter lines does mean that from the likes of Poughkeepsie or New Haven, there are currently slow services to Grand Central as well as fast (and more expensive) intercity services to Penn. So there aren't a huge number of places with exclusively Grand Central services and will be fewer going forward - it's perhaps more akin to how on Southeastern some areas might only get a service to Cannon Street while others might only get Charing Cross, but others get both?

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Most trains in Karlsruhe do stop at Karlsruhe Hbf, but the S5 and S51 tram-trains as they pass through the city centre east-west on tram tracks, only stopping at the secondary Karlsruhe-Durlach station. In the future the same will be true for S31/32 when they will enter the city centre as well once a new curve is built.

 

[Austriantrain]

Most trains in Karlsruhe do stop at Karlsruhe Hbf, but the S5 and S51 tram-trains as they pass through the city centre east-west on tram tracks, only stopping at the secondary Karlsruhe-Durlach station. In the future the same will be true for S31/32 when they will enter the city centre as well once a new curve is built.

If we start including S-Bahn services, most major cities will have some lines that don’t touch their central station. It is not only very normal, but often very desirable too. They do have equally -or more - important functions other than as a feeder for mainline rail.

 

[Hbbz9392]

In Istanbul and “Kocaeli” there are currently three stations where railway services terminate/originate. I will do some querying, this might get updates.

Halkalı is where all trains coming from abroad terminate (except Orient Express which terminates at Sirkeci). It’s also where a lot of YHT lines (domestic high-speed railway lines), the Edirne regional railway (which is currently being worked on to be converted to YHT), the Uzunköprü regional railway, Marmaray (S-bahn like subway system which serves Istanbul and “Kocaeli”), the Bahçeşehir subway and the Sofia express originate.

Söğütlüçeşme recently got a huge terminal/shopping center done. It‘s a place where some YHT lines originate and terminate. In addition the Metrobus (BRT) system originates a short walk away from the station.

Gebze is currently where Ada Ekspresi (a limited stop regional railway starting from Adapazarı) and Marmaray terminates. It’s also served by some YHT lines.

honorable mention: Sirkeci, which is used as a terminus by the reincarnated Orient Express only

Hello all. I would like to publish a few updates to this, after my querying:

The lines which originate at Halkalı also terminate there.

There is also the Ankara Ekspresi line, which originates at Halkalı and ,unlike the Ankara-İstanbul YHT line, uses electric locomotives (E68000), is a sleeper train, only originates/terminates from Halkalı and skips a few stops . (The Ankara-Istanbul YHT line uses EMU's.)

The historical Haydarpaşa Garı (Haydarpaşa railway station) is planned to be opened, which will be used by regional railways and YHT lines.

 

[stut]

Kolkata is an odd one. The main long distance station is Howrah Jn, but the main city terminal is Sealdah, split into two stations at 90⁰ to each other, though there is a nearby halt for occasional through services.

Kolkata station, however, is used only for the (very infrequent) circle line and the international train to Dhaka.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Mar 2026 ==

Chicago is another one with a complex layout, thanks to the sheet number of rail companies converting on the city.

Union Station is perhaps the most famous, but even that is split between the Union Pacific side and the BNSF side (near identical but one side has odd numbered platforms and one even, it's very disorientating) with a through platform for Amtrak.

The nearby Ogilvie Transportation Center, cunningly hidden in an office block, has UP commuter lines.

LaSalle St handles the Rock Island Line from a basic outdoor terminus at the back of an office block that pretends to be the station.

Then there's the two Millennium Stations, hidden underground amid liminal pedestrian walkways. The Metra Electric one heads down to the South Side, with a similar feel to NY Penn, through some fascinatingly shoehorned feeling halts. The South Shore line heads down to Indiana from what feels like the kind of underground car park bus station that 70s planners loved.

 

[Golghar]

Sealdah used to be the terminus of the Eastern Bengal Railway that lost most of its network to East Pakistan in 1947. In 1965 all railway traffic between India and Pakistan was suspended leaving Sealdah with mostly local and suburban traffic.
The new "Kolkata" station was only opened in 2006. It now has several long-distance trains, not just the one to Dhaka.

 

[Herriot2021]

Montreal has two stations in the core, within a few minutes walk of each other. All intercity services have used Gare Central since the 80s, but suburban services are split between the two stations. There is also a, low traffic, suburban line that connects with the REM (regional metro) in the suburbs but does not continue into the city centre.

 

[NCT]

If we start including S-Bahn services, most major cities will have some lines that don’t touch their central station. It is not only very normal, but often very desirable too. They do have equally -or more - important functions other than as a feeder for mainline rail.

Is there realistically a clear-cut distinction between S-Bahn and 'mainline' services? To me it's a continuum between metro, S-bahn, 'RB', 'RE/IR' and IC, where the boundary between the two is often a case-by-case issue.

In my OP I certainly do consider Dutch Sprinters and Milan S Lines as part of the discussion, and by extension Vienna S-bahn.

I agree with your general point - especially for cities where where main station is slightly distant from the traditional centre. For Vienna S-bahn serving Mitte is more important than serving Hbf, and for a long time to come Berlin S-bahn north-south routes will serve Friedrichestrasse rather than Hbf. In that vain, that some railway corridor are not on a direct service to all or some of the city's intercity services isn't that unusual in Europe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I suppose the issue with "S-bahn" is that it can mean two things - a fully segregated heavy rail metro like Merseyrail, the Metropolitan Line (let's ignore Chiltern's incursion onto that as it's a bit "de minimis") or the Hamburg or Berlin S-Bahnen, or a mainline service along similar lines like the Birmingham Snow Hill Lines, the S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr, the Liz or London Overground which often but not always have a segregated core section but share with other services once outside of that. In the latter case the difference between that and RB/RE is not particularly marked other than that S-Bahn designated services tend to have a particular style of operation i.e. more frequent and with standee style rolling stock and typically but not always call at all stations.

The term is even more diluted by stuff like the Swiss ones (they are typically called RER in French speaking areas and S-bahn in German speaking areas) which are just infrequent, typically hourly rural services that operate clock face standardised patterns. I think there's one like that in Germany (or was it Austria?) that uses single car DMUs which is really stretching it. Breisgau-S-Bahn was it? These ones are a bit like the idea of the "Mid Cornwall Metro" or "North Wales Metro" I suppose.

 

[NCT]

If it is (was) subject to the Railway Act 1993 / EU Fourth Package it's a rail service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If it is (was) subject to the Railway Act 1993 / EU Fourth Package it's a rail service.

I suppose that's a decent differentiation in terms of this thread specifically, but it's hard to say there's all that much difference between the shallow Tube and Merseyrail in concept - just historical reasons make one "National Rail" and one not.

 

[Austriantrain]

I suppose the issue with "S-bahn" is that it can mean two things - a fully segregated heavy rail metro like Merseyrail, the Metropolitan Line (let's ignore Chiltern's incursion onto that as it's a bit "de minimis") or the Hamburg or Berlin S-Bahnen, or a mainline service along similar lines like the Birmingham Snow Hill Lines, the S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr, the Liz or London Overground which often but not always have a segregated core section but share with other services once outside of that. In the latter case the difference between that and RB/RE is not particularly marked other than that S-Bahn designated services tend to have a particular style of operation i.e. more frequent and with standee style rolling stock and typically but not always call at all stations.

The term is even more diluted by stuff like the Swiss ones (they are typically called RER in French speaking areas and S-bahn in German speaking areas) which are just infrequent, typically hourly rural services that operate clock face standardised patterns. I think there's one like that in Germany (or was it Austria?) that uses single car DMUs which is really stretching it. Breisgau-S-Bahn was it? These ones are a bit like the idea of the "Mid Cornwall Metro" or "North Wales Metro" I suppose.

There is „S-Bahn“ and „S-Bahn“. Networks like Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt have a clear separation to other rail services. Vienna and many, probably most other places do not (Vienna used to be separate for a long time in the sense it had a central section all to itself, then under the name „Wiener Schnellbahn“, but that changed some 20 years ago).

OTOH, since S-Bahn services usually run into the city on or along established rail corridors, they will mostly reach the central station (or one of the main stations, if there are several). But there are exceptions of course, and very important ones, such as the S45 in Vienna (or, for topographical reasons, historically the Stadtbahn - now U4 - which both from Heiligenstadt and from Hütteldorf left the main railway alignment to run along the Danube canal and the Wien river valley, thus missing out on the terminal mainline stations).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Mar 2026 ==

For Vienna S-bahn serving Mitte is more important than serving Hbf

Wien Mitte is not particularly important as a destination in itself - there is nothing very important around it - but it’s an important connection point to U3 and U4. But so is Hbf for line U1, Praterstern for U1 and U2, and in the future also Matzleinsdorfer Platz for U2 again. Running most regional services through Vienna too (in addition to the S-Bahn) ensures optimal connections to the underground both from the north and the south.

The connection at Hbf to mainline services is also important nowadays (Vienna S-Bahn, for most Viennese, for a long time was the great unknown of Vienna city transport, but that has very much changed), and while toward the south and the west you could change in Meidling, from the east and north it would be very unattractive).

 

[D365]

Wien Mitte is not particularly important as a destination in itself - there is nothing very important around it - but it’s an important connection point to U3 and U4. But so is Hbf for line U1, Praterstern for U1 and U2, and in the future also Matzleinsdorfer Platz for U2 again. Running most regional services through Vienna too (in addition to the S-Bahn) ensures optimal connections to the underground both from the north and the south.

Wien Mitte is a much better location, geographically, for accessing the city centre.

 

[Austriantrain]

Wien Mitte is a much better location, geographically, for accessing the city centre.

For tourists. For people actually living here, it is on the wrong side of the centre, close to the less relevant part and also, the typical Viennese, who is a bit pampered by a very dense and freuquent transport network with stops close together doesn’t consider it walking distance to the most central parts. So then, you will rather change at Praterstern and Hbf to the U1, instead of going to Wien Mitte for the U3.

In addition, the historic city centre has lost a lot of its appeal for Austrians - the relevant city centre has moved towards the 6th, 7th and 8th district. And large employers are increasingly scarce, apart from the government. Banks, insurances, companies have largely moved away.

Like in other cities, 1st district is increasingly a majority tourist affair. I live very close to it and am hardly ever there.

 

[dutchflyer]

Re S-bahn in Germany:
Hamburg and Berlin were the first to get them-old style, 3d rail, so all separate. With Berlin also having the distinct feature of being separated into west and east for some 40+ years since end of WW2.
Then came a crop of with a tunnel under the city centre-tipically along a end-style HBF: FRankfurt, Leipzig, MÜnchen. Also with much better integration with local and regional buses etc. and a fare-union ´Verkehrsverbund´.
Karlsruhe got that but with their AVG tams in the tunnel. Many other cities got that tunnel but for their trams/light rail.
As it late last century was considered to be a distinct feature that any self-respecting major city (´Grossstadt´ in german) should have and it also was at that time an innovation: fixed interval clockface services with frequent stops, fanning out into sometimes indeed quite far outer lines.