NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Passenger depot

A train station, or railroad station (American English), or railway station (British English), is a point of call for trains, allowing the loading or unloading of goods, or allowing passengers to board and alight. Early stations were usually built with both passenger and goods facilities. This dual purpose is less common today, and in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. Generally stations are sited next to a railway or railroad line, or form the terminus for a particular route. Usually platforms are present to allow passengers to access trains easily and safely. Platforms may be connected by subways, bridges, or level crossings to the main part of the station; passenger facilities such as shelter, ticket sales, waiting rooms and benches are partly there, partly on the platforms. Broad Street station, London - print from Illustrated Times of 11 November 1865 File links The following pages link to this file: Train station Broad Street station Categories: Public domain images ... Broad Street station, London - print from Illustrated Times of 11 November 1865 File links The following pages link to this file: Train station Broad Street station Categories: Public domain images ... The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Broad Street station in 1865 Broad Street station was a major railway station in the City of London, which served as the terminus for the North London Railway. ... 1865 is a common year starting on Sunday. ... American English (AmE) is the form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ... British English (BrE) is a term used to refer to the form of the English language spoken in the British Isles. ... There are various types of trains designed for particular purposes, see rail transport operations. ... Good. ... A passenger is a person using but not operating an airplane, train, bus or other mode of transport. ... A terminal station, or terminus (plural: termini) is commonly used to describe a bus station or rail station (US: train station, UK: railway station). ... A railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a train station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. ... The word Subway has a number of uses: A pedestrian tunnel going under a road is known as a subway in the UK In American and Canadian English, subway refers to a tunnel or other underground structure built to carry mass transit vehicles. ... A log bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a gorge, valley, road, railroad track, river, body of water, or any other physical obstacle. ... A level crossing at Chertsey, England, as the barriers rise The term level crossing (also called: railroad crossing or grade crossing) is a crossing on one level (or at grade) - without recourse to a bridge or tunnel - used to describe the crossing of a railway line by a road, path... Shelter can refer to several things: A place that protects, to a larger or smaller extent, against some or all of the following: the weather (precipitation, wind, heat, cold) intruding humans and animals, etc. ... Ticket (unseperated) of the Kurkino in Berchtesgaden CeBIT Home 1998 student day ticket with Barcode Ticket for Rock am Ring(2004) with Hologram (right hand) Ticket can mean one of several things: // Permission A ticket is a voucher to indicate that one has paid for admission to a theatre, movie... Queue at US Air Force station in Iraq, for food at a birthday celebration. Queue areas are areas in which people queue (first in, first out), that is they wait in line for something. ... Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Benches Bench may refer to several things: A long backless seat, typically used for sitting at an outdoor table for casual eating. ...

The term station stop is used to differentiate a stop for a station from a stop for another reason, such as an engine change.

Rail transport

Operations
Stations
Trains
Locomotives
Rolling stock
History
Terminology
By country
Disasters
Modelling Railway tracks. ... Trains can travel at very high speed, are heavy, are unable to deviate from the track and require a great distance to stop. ... A rail transport or railroad system is often complicated. ... There are various types of trains designed for particular purposes, see rail transport operations. ... A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train, and has no payload capacity of its own; its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks. ... A railroad car (or, more briefly, car), also known as an item of rolling stock in British parlance, is a vehicle on a railroad or railway that is not a locomotive - one that provides another purpose than purely haulage, although some types of car are powered. ... The history of rail transport dates back nearly 500 years, and includes systems with man or horse power and rails of wood or stone. ... Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. ... This page provides an index of articles on Rail transport by country. ... Model railroading (US) or Railway modelling (UK) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modeled at a reduced scale, or ratio. ...
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As well as providing services for passengers and loading facilities for goods, stations often had locomotive and rolling stock depots (including refuelling, sidings and sheds). A train station that is jointly used by several rail transport companies is sometimes called a union station, or an interchange station. Train stations colocated with other transport systems such as trams and buses may also be referred to as interchanges, as may stations offering both metro/subway and heavy rail services. Trains can travel at very high speed, are heavy, are unable to deviate from the track and require a great distance to stop. ... A union station or union terminal is a train station where tracks and facilities are shared by two or more railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently between them. ... A modern tram in the TÃ¶Ã¶lÃ¶ district of Helsinki, Finland Volkswagen Cargo-Tram in Dresden. ... A bus is a large wheeled vehicle, intended to carry numerous persons in addition to the driver. ...

1 Development
2 Superlatives
3 Terminal stations
4 Station facilities
5 Configurations of train station
6 Accessibility
7 See also

Development

Modern stations, such as Kyoto Station in Kyoto, Japan, are often still built to a grand scale, though with steel, glass and abstract design

The first train stations resembled tram stops, with little in the way of buildings or facilities. The first railway stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830. Today Liverpool Road station is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses [1]. Download high resolution version (584x750, 98 KB)Kyoto Station Train station Kyoto Kansai Honshu Japan JR West Japan Railway Company Isetan I took this photograph and contribute it to the public domain. ... Download high resolution version (584x750, 98 KB)Kyoto Station Train station Kyoto Kansai Honshu Japan JR West Japan Railway Company Isetan I took this photograph and contribute it to the public domain. ... Christmas tree in Kyoto Station, as viewed from outside the main JR gate, looking west. ... This page is about the city Kyoto. ... A tram stop in Gothenburg, Sweden. ... The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (LMR) was the worlds first intercity passenger railway operated solely by steam locomotives. ... 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, located in Manchester, England, is a large technical museum devoted to the citys not-inconsiderable contributions to the development of science, technology, and industry. ...

Many train stations — unsurprisingly — date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time, grand in scale and size, lending prestige to the city as well as to railway operations. They also reflect the hubris of the time. Other 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 railway stations, from those boasting grand and intricate almost baroque-style edifices, to more stark utilitarian or modern styles. Stations built more recently often have a similar feel to airports, with a cold and plain abstract style. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hubris (or hybris) is exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retribution. ... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens: dynamic figures spiral down around a void: draperies blow: a whirl of movement lit in a shaft of light, rendered in a free bravura handling of paint In arts, the Baroque (or baroque) is both a period and the style that dominated it. ... Utilitarianism is a suggested theoretical framework for morality, law and politics, based on quantitative maximisation of some definition of utility for society or humanity. ... It has been suggested that Modernist project be merged into this article or section. ...

Examples of modern stations include those on newer high-speed rail networks, such as the shinkansen in Japan and LGV lines in France. Britain boasts a new modern rail terminus at Waterloo International, the end-point for the Eurostar Channel Tunnel rail services to France and Belgium. This station will cease to be the Eurostar terminal when the new St Pancras terminal, connected to the Channel Tunnel high-speed rail link, opens in 2007.
Shinkansen 0 Series at Fukuyama Station, April 2002 Shinkansen 500 Series at Kyoto Station, March 2005 300 (Left) and 700 Series Shinkansen at Tokyo Station The Shinkansen (Japanese: æ–°å¹¹ç·š) is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. ... LGV may be: Lymphogranuloma venereum Ligne a grande vitesse, French high speed railway line. ... The main entrance of Waterloo Station. ... Eurostar logo Eurostar is a train service that connects London with Paris and Brussels. ... Channel Tunnel The British terminal at Cheriton, from the Pilgrims Way The Channel Tunnel, (French: le tunnel sous la Manche; once popularly nicknamed the Chunnel in English) is a 50-km-long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Straits of Dover, connecting Cheriton in Kent, United Kingdom, and...

Superlatives

The world's busiest train station, in terms of daily passenger throughput, is Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan. Ikebukuro Station, just minutes away, is the world's second-busiest. By train throughput, the world's busiest train station is Clapham Junction in London. South side of Shinjuku Station Ōedo Line Ōedo Line Ticket gates on the Ōedo Line A northbound Saikyo Line train bound for Kawagoe takes on passengers at Shinjuku Station. ... The modern skyline of Tokyo is highly decentralized. ... Ikebukuro Station (池袋駅 Ikebukuro-eki) is Tokyos second-busiest train station, after Shinjuku Station. ... The railway junction at Clapham Junction, facing east The footbridge over the fan of tracks leading to sheds and sidings Details of roof support columns at Clapham Junction railway station Electronic Information board on a Clapham Junction platform Clapham Junction railway stations platforms 2 to 10 at night The... The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

The world's largest train station, in terms of floor area, is Nagoya Station in Nagoya, Japan. However, the Nagoya Station complex incorporates two office towers and an underground shopping concourse, so the railway terminal itself is not large in comparison to others. Shinjuku Station is the second largest. In terms of platform capacity, the world's largest train station is Grand Central Terminal in New York City, USA. JR Central Towers Nagoya Station (åå¤å±‹é§…) is a train station in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Japan. ... Nagoya Castle in June of 2004. ... The clock in the Main Concourse Â© 2004 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Grand Central Terminal (often still called Grand Central Station, although technically that is the name of the nearby post office and New York City Subway station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line) is a train station at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ...

Terminal stations

Main article: terminal station A terminal station, or terminus (plural: termini) is commonly used to describe a bus station or rail station (US: train station, UK: railway station). ...

A terminus is a station sited where a railway line ends or terminates. Thus, platforms can be reached without crossing tracks.

Often a terminus is the final destination of a train, but not necessarily. When a train is required to travel onwards from a terminus, it must reverse out of the station to continue the trip. Various methods exist to counter this problem.

The same applies if the station is not a terminus, but the train service involves reversing direction anyway.

Reversing direction often causes some worry to travellers who are inexperienced and have no detailed geographic knowledge of the railway lines — one might assume the train has finished its journey and is returning to the starting location. Some travellers prefer facing forward; if possible they change place when there is a reversal of direction. In some types of carriages, train personnel are able to turn the seats when the train changes direction so that all travellers face forward.

For more on this, see Commuter train. A Connex commuter train stands by the platform in Melbourne, Australia Regional rail systems, or commuter rail systems, usually provide a rail service through a central business district area into suburbs or other locations that draw large numbers of people on a daily basis. ...

Station facilities

Train stations usually include either ticket booths, or ticket machines. Ticket sales may also be combined with customer service desks or convenience stores. Many stations include some form of convenience store. Larger stations usually have fast-food or restaurant facilities. In some countries, such stations also have a bar, or pub. Other station facilities include: toilets, left-luggage, lost-and-found, departures and arrivals boards, luggage carts, waiting rooms, taxi ranks and bus bays. Larger or manned stations tend to have a greater range of facilities. A most basic station might only have platforms, though it would still be distinguished from a halt, a stopping or halting place that may not even have platforms. A vending machine is a machine that dispenses merchandise when a customer deposits money, validated by a currency detector, sufficient to purchase the desired item (as opposed to a shop, where the presence of personnel is required for every purchase). ... A convenience store is a small store or shop, generally accessible or local. ... Fried fish and chips Hamburger DÃ¶ner kebab Fast food is food prepared and served quickly at a fast-food restaurant or shop at low cost. ... Toms Diner, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to be consumed on the premises. ... Tourists sit outside a bar in Chiang Mai, Thailand A bar is an establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold to be drunk on the premises. ... An amusingly named pub (the Old New Inn) at Bourton-on-the-Water, in the Cotswold Hills of South West England A pub in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh, Scotland A public house, usually known as a pub, is a drinking establishment found mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada... Flush toilet A toilet is a plumbing fixture primarily intended for the disposal of bodily wastes such as urine and feces. ... Storage is the at least semi-permanent holding of an amount of something. ... A timetable is an organized list or schedule, usually set out in tabular form, providing information about a series of arranged events: in particular, the time at which it is planned these events will take place. ... Queue at US Air Force station in Iraq, for food at a birthday celebration. Queue areas are areas in which people queue (first in, first out), that is they wait in line for something. ... A taxi stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers. ... A bus is a large wheeled vehicle, intended to carry numerous persons in addition to the driver. ...

Configurations of train station

The modern non-terminus Lewes Station in East Sussex, England serves trains passing through the station. Passengers reach the island platform (on right) by a pedestrian footbridge.

In addition to the basic configuration of a train station, various features set certain types of station apart. The first is elevation. While most stations are at ground level, those in cities or urban areas are often elevated or situated below ground, even if the station is not necessarily part of an underground metro system. The reason is usually to grade-separate road systems. Elevated stations are more common, not including metro stations. Download high resolution version (1136x852, 142 KB)Picture of Lewes railyway staton taken by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1136x852, 142 KB)Picture of Lewes railyway staton taken by me File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... East Sussex is a county in South East England. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 kmÂ² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ...

Another unusual configuration is where the station serves railway lines at differing levels. This may be due to the station's situation at a point where two lines cross, or may be to provide separate station capacity for two types of service, e.g. intercity and suburban, or simply two different destinations.

Some stations have unusual platform layouts, due to space constraints of the station location, or the alignment of the railway lines. Examples are non-parallel platforms and curved stations (and platforms).

A list is available detailing further examples of less usual railway station layouts. At its most basic, a railway station consists of a place without any facilities where trains stop. ...

Accessibility

Accessibility for people with disabilities is important in train station design and 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, safety measures such as tactile marking of platform edges and covering of third rail. Third rail at the West Falls Church Metro stop in the Washington, D.C. area, electrified to 750 volts. ...

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