Europe's Record-Holding Railway Stations

Busiest Railway Station By Total Passenger Numbers

The busiest railway station in Europe is the Gare du Nord or the Paris North railway station located in Paris, France. The station was established between 1861 and 1864. Jacques Hittorff, a French architect, is credited with the designing of the Gare du Nord station. It is one of the biggest ones in the city’s SNCF mainline network. The Gare du Nord is also the world’s 24th busiest railway station, all the other 23 being located in Japan. Trains from the station travel to Northern France as well as to international destinations like Germany, Belgium, the UK, etc. The station serves about 214 million passengers per year.

Busiest Railway Station By Daily Rail Traffic (including through traffic)

The busiest European railway station by the number of trains passing through the station is UK’s Clapham Junction railway station. The station is located near St. John's Hill in Battersea, Wandsworth. The station is managed by the South Western Railway. The Clapham Junction railway station receives trains from several routes like London Victoria, London Waterloo funnel, and others. Nearly 100 to 180 trains pass through this platform each hour with the exception of late night hours.

Busiest Railway Terminus By Daily Rail Traffic

Although the Clapham Junction is the busiest in terms of daily rail traffic, the station is primarily a through station. The Zürich Central Station or the Zürich Hauptbahnhof is, however, the busiest terminus in Europe by the volume of rail traffic. Located in Zürich, Switzerland, the railway station is the largest one in the country and provides railway services across Switzerland as well as foreign destinations like Italy, France, and Austria. The railway station has platforms located at both the ground level and below that are interconnected via several passages and a shopping mall.

Largest Railway Station By Floor Area

Located in Leipzig, Germany, the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is the biggest railway station in Europe in terms of floor area. The railway station spreads across an area of 83,460 square meters. The railway station hosts 19 platforms that are housed within 6 iron sheds. Two underground platforms are also present. The facade of the station is 298 meters long. A multi-level concourse is also present here. The Leipzig stations serve around 120,000 passengers on a daily basis.

Largest Railway Station By Number Of Platforms

With 32 platforms in the mainline station, the München Hauptbahnhof, a railway station located in Munich, Germany, holds the record of being the railway station in Europe with the highest number of platforms. The railway station serves around 450,000 passengers a day. The first railway station was built at the site in 1839. Since then, several stations have been rebuilt at the site including the post World War II repairs, to finally result in the modern-day station of München Hauptbahnhof.

The Highest Railway Station In Europe

The Swiss railway station of Jungfraujoch is the highest railway station in the European continent. The station is located high in the Alps in Jungfraujoch at an elevation of 11,332 ft. The Jungfrau Railway runs for a distance of 9 km from the lower terminal of Kleine Scheidegg to this station. During this journey, the railway runs primarily through a tunnel between the two mountains of Eiger and Mönch with two stations built into the tunnel.