Trivia: LARGEST stations

[ijmad]

I was wondering what largest stations are on the rail network - not the busiest!

A few possible ways to measure this. Total site area, concourse size, or maybe even total retail space in square metres/feet.

London stations must be contenders e.g. Waterloo, Victoria, St Pancras, London Bridge (when finished), Kings Cross with its new dome, even Liverpool Street (seems to have a lot of retail space spread across two levels).

Brimingham New Street must be up there now too as well as Edinburgh Waverley.

Is there any official numbers on this?

 

[hexagon789]

I believe that in terms of both area and number of platforms London Waterloo is the Uk's largest, followed next by Edinburgh Waverley.

 

[telstarbox]

Lewisham is big for a station with only through trains - it spreads over two A roads, two rivers and the DLR.

 

[jopsuk]

with London stations especially, do you include eg Underground/other metro that are part of the station? And if so where do you draw the line? Lewisham DLR is clearly a separate station to Lewisham mainline, as an example.

Then there's elephant on the Euston Road. Kings Cross and St Pancras share an Underground station. In the future, they may even share a Crossrail 2 station with Euston.

 

[sk688]

Im pretty sure I read somewhere that Bank/Monument is the largest train station in the world

If you take all the Kings Cross stations as one ( St Pancras Intl , Kings Cross and the Tube ) , then it would surely be huge , especially considering the sheer number of long walkways ( Victoria Line to Eurostar anyone ? )

 

[SeanG]

Im pretty sure I read somewhere that Bank/Monument is the largest train station in the world

I doubt it as it is entirely underground and the world's largest underground station is Chatelet des Halles in Paris. I was amazed by the size of the hole needed for the RER bit alone

 

[Lrd]

Berlin Hbf (and many other European stations) is huge with trains down in the basement and up in the roof and shops and facilities in between all in a large open building.

 

[swt_passenger]

with London stations especially, do you include eg Underground/other metro that are part of the station? And if so where do you draw the line?

Waterloo + Waterloo East + 4 LU lines will probably still win...

 

[hexagon789]

Discounting Waterloo East, the Underground platforms AND the former Eurostar "Waterloo International" platforns, London Waterloo is still the UK's largest station in terms of total area and number of platforms. As well as having the highest annual number of passengers.

 

[ijmad]

Discounting Waterloo East, the Underground platforms AND the former Eurostar "Waterloo International" platforns, London Waterloo is still the UK's largest station in terms of total area and number of platforms. As well as having the highest annual number of passengers.

I can well believe it. Definitely has a huge concourse area and significant retail space, lots of platforms too.

I was wondering if St Pancras or somewhere might have more retail space, it has several full sized restaurants and a larger pub that Waterloo doesn't.

 

[eisenach]

I'd always understood that Frankfurt/Main and Leipzig Hbf vied for the status as largest station (in Europe).

 

[gazthomas]

Surely Shinjuku in Tokyo can make a claim - 51 platforms!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_Station

 

[theageofthetra]

Surely Shinjuku in Tokyo can make a claim - 51 platforms!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_Station

Was about to post this. Can't imagine anything outside Tokyo/Kawasaki/Yokohama conurbation will come even remotely close

 

[ijmad]

Was about to post this. Can't imagine anything outside Tokyo/Kawasaki/Yokohama conurbation will come even remotely close

In terms of individual stations, Grand Central still has the most number of platforms (44) - Shinjuku only has 36 in the main station (17 more in physically connected stations) but nowhere near the passenger volumes, obviously!

 

[Mag_seven]

Surely Shinjuku in Tokyo can make a claim - 51 platforms!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_Station

God help you if you have a connection that leaves from Platform 51 and your train arrives in platform 1.

 

[quantinghome]

Was about to post this. Can't imagine anything outside Tokyo/Kawasaki/Yokohama conurbation will come even remotely close

CST in Mumbai may be close. Can't find any stats online though.

 

[bnsf734]

Munich Hauptbahnhof has 36 mainline platforms with 4 more on the S Bahn station underground and I know from experience how long the walk is from platform 1 to 36! 10 minutes will just about do it! I would say this covers a larger area than Berlin Hbf although that station has more levels than Munich.

 

[Deepgreen]

Taking the limits of the station borders, Clapham Junction is pretty large for a through station, given that it is spread out either side of the yard.

 

[Dr Hoo]

If you include station access roads that are 'railway property' in the sense of being in the leased area with the TOC responsible for lighting and maintenance, I believe that Chapel-en-le-Frith is a contender. Must be about half a mile long and certainly further than the extremities of a little hole-in-the-wall jobbie like Clapham Junction.

 

[WideRanger]

God help you if you have a connection that leaves from Platform 51 and your train arrives in platform 1.

While connected, some of those platforms really are very far from the main station - it could easily take 20 minutes once you have navigated the various stairs and tunnels. However, since virtually all of the services are running on metro frequencies, most people don't worry about the timetable unless it is close to last train time.

 

[WideRanger]

CST in Mumbai may be close. Can't find any stats online though.

CST is a curious station (hardly anyone calls it its full name Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus). It serves 2 lines on High Frequency services (The Central Line with seperate Fast and Slow trains, and the Harbour Line). If I remember correctly, all of those services use around 7 platforms. The rest of the platforms are used for long distance trains that sit around for extended periods, and are threaded into the same tracks as the suburban services. So the number of trains in and out per hour are not huge.

The limitations in the station mean that a lot fo the longdistance trains have to terminate in stations further up the line. However the long-distance trains can be impressively long, and the suburban trains can, in the peak be scarily full.

 

[sk688]

CST is a curious station (hardly anyone calls it its full name Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus). It serves 2 lines on High Frequency services (The Central Line with seperate Fast and Slow trains, and the Harbour Line). If I remember correctly, all of those services use around 7 platforms. The rest of the platforms are used for long distance trains that sit around for extended periods, and are threaded into the same tracks as the suburban services. So the number of trains in and out per hour are not huge.

The limitations in the station mean that a lot fo the longdistance trains have to terminate in stations further up the line. However the long-distance trains can be impressively long, and the suburban trains can, in the peak be scarily full.

I remember riding on top and holding on to the sides of some of their support suburban trains in the morning and evening. It would be fun if it wasn't so terrifying although they can't do anything more now, the trains are already like 18 coaches and more sparse than cattle trucks. Modern yes, but luxurious no. I think they are Siemens built.

Highly recommend a day riding on Mumbai Suburban Railway. Being born there and of Indian Origin, although I've lived here since I was there months old \ summer 2001). It's fun and cheap, just don't be a tourist and don't mention the empire / colonisation let you find yourself thrown out of the ( doorless trains)

 

[quantinghome]

Somewhat surprised to find a survey reported in the Times of India that CST's footfall is around 600k per day, while the suburban railway as a whole carries 7.5m passengers per day. The passenger flows seem to be more distributed around Mumbai than I'd thought. I'd assumed most were heading for CST or Churchgate.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Waterloo + Waterloo East + 4 LU lines will probably still win...

You can keep on going with the Waterloo complex, it's possible to carry on through Waterloo East and into Southwark Underground station without going outside.

 

[ijmad]

You can keep on going with the Waterloo complex, it's possible to carry on through Waterloo East and into Southwark Underground station without going outside.

You do have to go through two lines of weird barriers that face each other with no escape though!

 

[Peter0124]

I read somewhere that Glasgow Central's glass roof is the worlds largest. Don't know if its true or not.

 

[southern442]

In terms of individual stations, Grand Central still has the most number of platforms (44) - Shinjuku only has 36 in the main station (17 more in physically connected stations) but nowhere near the passenger volumes, obviously!

Grand Central actually has well over 60 platforms. When someone says that the station has 44 'platforms', theyu actually mean physical platforms. I believe 43 are island platforms and 1 is a side platform. As for actual train platforms, they call them 'tracks' in the US because the word 'platform' is too big and complicated

 

[Strathclyder]

I read somewhere that Glasgow Central's glass roof is the worlds largest. Don't know if its true or not.

Not sure if it's the largest, but it's definitely up there. It consists of over 48,000 panes of glass:

 

[Gathursty]

If you include station access roads that are 'railway property' in the sense of being in the leased area with the TOC responsible for lighting and maintenance, I believe that Chapel-en-le-Frith is a contender. Must be about half a mile long and certainly further than the extremities of a little hole-in-the-wall jobbie like Clapham Junction.

Dovey Junction's footpath though...

 

[Busaholic]

God help you if you have a connection that leaves from Platform 51 and your train arrives in platform 1.

Perhaps they're in a sort of fan shape and Platform 51 and Platform 1 are actually next to one another.