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Ametro station orsubway station is atrain station for arapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchasetickets, board trains, andevacuate the system in the case of an emergency. In the United Kingdom, they are known asunderground stations, most commonly used in reference to theLondon Underground.
The location of metro stations are carefully planned to provide easy access to important urban facilities such as roads, commercial centers, major buildings and othertransport nodes important areas.
Most stations are located underground, with entrances and exits leading up to ground or street level.[dubious –discuss] The bulk of the station is typically positioned under land reserved for publicthoroughfares orparks. Placing the station underground reduces the outside area occupied by the station, allowing vehicles and pedestrians to continue using the ground-level area in a similar way as before the station's construction. This is especially important where the station is servinghigh-density urban precincts, where ground-level spaces are already heavily utilised.[6]
In other cases, a station may beelevated above a road, or at ground level depending on the level of the train tracks. The physical, visual and economic impact of the station and its operations will be greater. Planners will often take metro lines or parts of lines at or above ground where urban density decreases, extending the system further for less cost. Metros are most commonly used in urban cities, with great populations.[7] Alternatively, a preexisting railway land corridor is re-purposed for rapid transit.[8]
At street level the logo of the metro company marks the entrances/exits of the station. Usually, signage shows the name of the station and describes the facilities of the station and the system it serves. Often there are several entrances for one station, saving pedestrians from needing to cross a street and reducing crowding.[6]
Metro stations typically provide ticket vending and ticket validating systems. The station is divided into an unpaid zone connected to the street, and apaid zone connected to the train platforms. The ticket barrier allows passengers with valid tickets to pass between these zones. The barrier may be operated by staff or more typically with automatedturnstiles or gates that open when atransit pass is scanned or detected.[9] Some metro systems dispense with paid zones and validate tickets withstaff in the train carriages.[10]
Access from the street to ticketing and the train platform is provided bystairs,concourses,escalators,elevators and tunnels. The station will be designed to minimise overcrowding and improve flow, sometimes by designating tunnels as one way.[7] Permanent or temporary barriers may be used to manage crowds. Some metro stations have direct connections to important nearby buildings (seeunderground city).
Most jurisdictions mandate thatpeople with disabilities must have unassisted use of the station. This is resolved with elevators, taking a number of people from street level to the unpaid ticketing area, and then from the paid area to the platform. In addition, there will be stringent requirements for emergencies, withbackup lighting,emergency exits andalarm systems installed and maintained. Stations are a critical part of the evacuation route for passengers escaping from a disabled or troubled train.[11]
A subway station may provide additional facilities, such astoilets,kiosks and amenities for staff and security services, such asTransit police.
Some metro stations can also beinterchanges, serving to connect and transfer passengers between lines or transport systems. The platforms may be multi-level. Transfer stations handle more passengers than regular stations, with additional connecting tunnels and larger concourses to reduce walking times and manage crowd flows.
In some stations, especially where trains arefully automated, the entireplatform is screened from the track by a wall, typically of glass, with automaticplatform-edge doors (PEDs). These open, like elevator doors, only when a train is stopped, and thus eliminate the hazard that a passenger will accidentally fall (ordeliberately jump) onto the tracks and be run over orelectrocuted.
Control overventilation of the platform is also improved, allowing it to be heated or cooled without having to do the same for the tunnels. The doors add cost and complexity to the system, and trains may have to approach the station more slowly so they can stop in accurate alignment with them.
Metro stations, more so than railway and bus stations, often have a characteristic artistic design that can identify each stop. Some have sculptures or frescoes. For example, London'sBaker Street station is adorned with tiles depictingSherlock Holmes. The tunnel for Paris'Concorde station is decorated with tiles spelling theDéclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen. Every metro station inValencia, Spain has a different sculpture on the ticket-hall level. Alameda station is decorated with fragments of white tile, like the dominant style of theCiutat de les Arts i les Ciències. Each of the original four stations in theOlympic Green onLine 8 of theBeijing Subway are decorated in Olympic styles, while the downtown stations are decorated traditionally with elements of Chinese culture. On theTyne and Wear Metro, the station atNewcastle United's home groundSt James' Park is decorated in the clubs famous black and white stripes. Each station of the Red Line and Purple Line subway in Los Angeles was built with different artwork and decorating schemes, such as murals, tile artwork and sculptural benches. Every station of theMexico City Metro is prominently identified by a unique icon in addition to its name, because the city had highilliteracy rates at the time the system was designed.[citation needed]
Some metro systems, such as those ofNaples,Stockholm,Moscow,St. Petersburg,Tashkent,Kyiv,[12]Montreal,Lisbon,Kaohsiung andPrague are famous for their beautiful architecture andpublic art. TheParis Métro is famous for itsArt Nouveau station entrances; while theAthens Metro is known for its display of archeological relics found during construction. And the London Underground is famous for itsoxblood redfaïence blocks including pillars and semi-circular first-floor windows station buildings designed byLeslie Green.[citation needed]
However, it is not always the case that metro designers strive to make all stations artistically unique.Sir Norman Foster's new system inBilbao, Spain uses the same modern architecture at every station to make navigation easier for the passenger, though some may argue that this is at the expense of character.[citation needed]
Metro stations usually feature prominent poster and video advertising, especially at locations where people are waiting, producing an alternativerevenue stream for theoperator.[citation needed]
 | This sectionis missing information about elevated and at-grade station types. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(August 2023) |
Theshallow column station is a type of construction of subway stations, with the distinguishing feature being an abundance of supplementary supports for the underground cavity.[13] Most designs employ metal columns or concrete and steel columns arranged in lines parallel to the long axis of the station.
Stations can be double-span with a single row of columns, triple-span with two rows of columns, or multi-span. The typical shallow column station in Russia is triple-span, assembled from concrete and steel, and is from 102 to 164 metres in length with a column spacing of 4–6 m.[citation needed] Along with the typical stations, there are also specially built stations. For example, one of the spans may be replaced with a monolithic vault (as in theMoskovskaya station of theSamara Metro orSibirskaya of theNovosibirsk Metro). In some cases, one of the rows of columns may be replaced with a load-bearing wall. Such a dual hall, one-span station,Kashirskaya, was constructed to provide a convenient cross-platform transfer. Recently, stations have appeared with monolithic concrete and steel instead of assembled pieces, asPloshchad Tukaya inKazan.
The typical shallow column station has two vestibules at both ends of the station, most often combined with below-street crossings.
For many metro systems outside Russia, the typical column station is a two-span station with metal columns, as in New York City, Berlin, and others. In Chicago, underground stations of theChicago 'L' are three-span stations if constructed with a centre platform.
In theMoscow Metro, approximately half of the stations are of shallow depth, built in the 1960s and 1970s, but inSaint Petersburg, because of the difficult soil conditions and dense building in the centre of the city this was impossible. TheSaint Petersburg Metro has only five shallow-depth stations altogether, with three of them having the column design:Avtovo,Leninsky Prospekt, andProspekt Veteranov. The first of these is less typical, as it is buried at a significant depth, and has only one surface vestibule.
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Adeep column station is a type ofsubway station consisting of a central hall with two side halls connected by ring-like passages between a row of columns.[14] Depending on the type of station, the rings transmit load to the columns either by "wedged arches" or throughPurlins, forming a "column-purlin complex".
The fundamental advantage of the column station is the significantly greater connection between the halls, compared with apylon station.
The first deep column station in the world isMayakovskaya, opened in 1938 in Moscow.
One variety of column station is the "column-wall station". In such stations, some of the spaces between the columns are replaced with walls. In this way, the resistance to earth pressure is improved in difficult ground environments. Examples of such stations in Moscow areKrestyanskaya Zastava andDubrovka. InSaint Petersburg,Komendantsky Prospekt is an example.
Thepylon station is a type of deep undergroundsubway station.[15] The basic distinguishing characteristic of the pylon station is the manner of division of the central hall from the station tunnels
The pylon station consists of three separate halls, separated from each other by a row of pylons with passages between them. The independence of the halls allows thearchitectural form of the central and side halls to be differentiated. This is especially characteristic in the non-metroJerusalem–Yitzhak Navon railway station, constructed as a pylon station due to its 80-meter depth, where the platform halls are built to superficially resemble an outdoor train station.
Building stations of the pylon type is preferable in difficult geological situations, as such a station is better able to oppose earth pressure. However, the limited number of narrow passages limits the throughput between the halls.
The pylon station was the earliest type of deep underground station.[citation needed] One variation is the so-called London-style station. In such stations the central hall is reduced to the size of an anteroom, leading to the inclined walkway or elevators. In some cases the anteroom is also the base of the escalators. In the countries of the formerUSSR there is currently only one such station:Arsenalna inKyiv. In Jerusalem, two planned underground heavy rail stations,Jerusalem–Central andJerusalem–Khan, will be built this way. In Moscow, there were such stations, but they have since been rebuilt:Lubyanka andChistiye Prudy are now ordinary pylon stations, andPaveletskaya-Radialnaya is now a column station.
In theMoscow Metro, typical pylon station areKievskaya-Koltsevaya,Smolenskaya of the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line,Oktyabrskaya-Koltsevaya, and others.
In theSaint Petersburg Metro, pylon stations includePloshchad Lenina,Pushkinskaya,Narvskaya,Gorkovskaya,Moskovskie Vorota, and others.
The construction of a single-vault station consists of a single wide and high underground hall, in which there is only onevault (hence the name).[16] The first single-vault stations were built inLeningrad in 1975:Politekhnicheskaya andPloshchad Muzhestva. Not long after, the first two-level single-vault transfer stations were opened in Washington DC in 1976:L'Enfant Plaza,Metro Center andGallery Place.
In theMoscow Metro there is only one deep underground single-vault station,Timiryazevskaya, in addition to several single-vault stations at shallow depth. In theNizhny Novgorod Metro there are four such stations:Park Kultury,Leninskaya,Chkalovskaya andKanavinskaya. In theSaint Petersburg Metro all single-vault stations are deep underground, for exampleOzerki,Chornaya Rechka,Obukhovo,Chkalovskaya, and others. Most of the underground stations of theWashington, D.C.'s Metro system are single-vault designs, as are all the single-line vaulted stations in theMontreal Metro. InPrague Metro, there are two underground stations built as single-vault,Kobylisy andPetřiny. In theBucharest Metro,Titan station is built in this method.
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Thecavern station is a metro station built directly inside acavern. Many stations of theStockholm Metro, especially on the Blue line, were built in man-made caverns; instead of being enclosed in a tunnel, these stations are built to expose the bedrock in which they are excavated.[17][18] The Stockholm Metro also has a depot facility built in a cavern system.[19]
In theUnited States, an example of a cavern station can be found atPeachtree Center station on theMARTA rail system inAtlanta.
In theHong Kong MTR, examples of stations built into caverns includeTai Koo station onHong Kong Island,[20][21][22][23] Other examples in the city include Sai Wan Ho, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong University and Lei Tung stations.[20]
Il sito del Daily Telegraph di Londra dedica un reportage fotografico alle stazioni della metro più affascinanti d'Europa. Tra le ventidue segnalate, la palma della più bella è assegnata alla fermata Toledo di Napoli, inaugurata lo scorso 12 aprile.[The website ofThe Daily Telegraph in London features a photographic report on the most captivating metro stations in Europe. Among the twenty-two highlighted, the title of the most beautiful is awarded to the Toledo station in Naples, inaugurated on April 12.]
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