If mass transit is the backbone of a city, then the train station is the beating heart. The entry and exit point for thousands of commuters and the first experience of the city for many.
It’s a logistics hub
Enabling international and national rail freight and taking vehicles off the roads.
It’s a nerve centre.
For multi-modal connections, the metro, buses, shared micromobility.
It’s an accessible, permeable, community space.
That’s safe and comfortable for everyone to use, with places to stop and rest.
It’s a patch of new city.
King’s Cross and St Pancras International, London
For its permeability and openness to the rest of the city. 30% of footfall to the stations is people not using trains.
Antwerpen-Centraal
“A piece of the city where you can catch a train.”
A historic building which has been remodelled to be a completely-permeable, covered square, with tracks and infrastructure moved underground.
Grand Central, New York
For being “not simply a transportation hub — but a shopping, dining, and cultural destination with a full calendar of events all under one magnificent roof.”
Liverpool Street, London
For cross-city connections and new public realm and development.
Stratford
For its ability to accommodate special events and with significant attractors of demand, such as retail and stadia.
Waterloo
For the ongoing masterplan work which opens up areas beneath the tracks with retail and routes. For connecting neighbourhoods that have been disconnected since the railway was built.
Japan and Hong Kong
For its approach to making stations profitable through and over station development (OSD). OSD is key to funding infrastructure and the public transport services that run from the stations.