There’s a renaissance happening in rail travel right now – everybody knows that – and to (literally) hop on the bandwagon, you’ve gotta go through a train station, obvs.
But not all stations were created equal – some are beacons of easy-to-navigate signage and punctual services, others can make you wish you took the car.
To shed some light on which is which, the European Railway Station Index annually ranks Europe’s hubs based on passenger volume, ticket office operating hours, waiting times, delayed services, wheelchair accessibility, shop and restaurant and offerings, plus more, and all are awarded a score of up to 118.
Topping the list in the latest index, with a score of 101, it was Zurich HB, which has retained its first place spot from the previous year. Bern Railway Station came in second place, which is up one position, and in third place was Utrecht Centraal, which was previously fifth.
Impressively, four Paris train stations made it into the top 10: Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse and Gare Saint-Lazare.
Now for the other side of the tracks: according to the index, Berlin doesn’t fare too well – both Berlin Ostkreuz and Berlin Zoologischer Garten rank in the bottom portion of this 50-strong roundup, scoring just 41 and 47 respectively.
These are the best train stations in Europe
- Zürich HB, Zurich
- Bern Railway Station, Bern
- Utrecht Centraal, Utrecht
- Gare du Nord, Paris
- Gare de Lyon and Gare Montparnasse, Paris
- Wien Hauptbahnhof, Vienna
- Roma Termini, Rome
- Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris
- London Bridge, London and Leipzig Hbf, Leipzig
These are the worst train stations in Europe
- Berlin Ostkreuz, Berlin
- Bremen Hbf, Berlin
- Berlin Zoologischer Garten, Berlin
- Firenze Santa Maria Novella, Florence
- Châtelet-Les Halles, Paris
- Haussmann Saint-Lazare, Paris and Roma Tiburtina, Rome
- München-Pasing, Munich
- Vienna Meilding, Vienna
- Berlin Sudkreuz, Berlin
- Hamburg-Altona, Hamburg
Did you see that Europe’s brand-new sleeper train connecting seven cities is officially launching next week?
Plus: France could be getting a whole load of new sleeper trains.
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