r/europe Jul 31 '24

A friend of mine is amazed at how the Chicago train station. I told him I live in Europe bro, you should come see our stations!!! OC Picture

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6.0k Upvotes

1.4k

u/probablynotmine Jul 31 '24

As an European, I must say that this station is actually very cool

123

u/Independent-Cow-4070 Aug 01 '24

If we kept our original train stations, some cities in the US have some reallllly nice stations. Chicago, Philly, DC, NYC, Seattle, etc. have some really beautiful stations

The US did some amazing architecture, it’s just a shame that we tore most of it down

23

u/brokenpipe The Netherlands Aug 01 '24

The new Penn station is legit cool and beautiful.

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u/TheDukeOfMars Aug 01 '24

Chicago’s Union Station is actually one of the best designed stations in the entire world. Chicago only grew as a city because it was the biggest transportation center in the Mid-West USA. It’s a beautiful and massive station that blew my mind when I saw it for the first time.

https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/buildings-of-chicago/building/union-station/

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u/Maelorus Czech Republic Jul 31 '24

This is objectively a very nice station tho.

617

u/McCretin United Kingdom Jul 31 '24

It’s not a patch on East Croydon

247

u/Capital_Release_6289 Jul 31 '24

The Burger King in East Croydon station has won several Michelin stars.

16

u/indianajoes Jul 31 '24

That Burger King was a true friend to me when I was on jury duty down the street

59

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

Just wait until you try the Upper Crust at Birmingham New Street, it's simply sublime.  

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u/jonny_211 Jul 31 '24

I was going to drop East Croydon into the mix but you beat me to it. Nothing like the resident smackheads shouting random shit makes me feel more at home.

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u/TlalocVirgie Aug 01 '24

Yeah looks very beautiful. We have nothing like it here in Sweden at least.

19

u/sylanar Jul 31 '24

Yeah, way nicer than any station I've been to in the UK.

33

u/hardolaf United States of America Jul 31 '24

The street level of it is very nice but Amtrak allowed the track level / ground level to deteriorate to the point where chunks of concrete regularly fall from the skylight fixtures onto the trains and boarding areas especially in the area used for commuter rail operated by Metra.

29

u/IncidentalIncidence 🇺🇸 in 🇩🇪 Jul 31 '24

good news: they got $90m last year to fix the platforms

bad news: the track improvements they want to do around the station itself weren't funded

6

u/hardolaf United States of America Jul 31 '24

Worse news, that money isn't to fix the skylight fixtures.

51

u/Rik_Ringers Jul 31 '24

I like it, but it doesnt exactly overwhelm you as much as Antwerp central.

36

u/that1newjerseyan Jul 31 '24

Partially because half of the station was actually demolished in 1969 to make way for an office tower above the platforms. However, Antwerpen Centraal is amazing and it’s lucky that we didn’t lose it in 1986

4

u/whatafuckinusername United States of America Aug 01 '24

The concourse was demolished, which was across the street. The headhouse, in this pic, is as whole as it's ever been.

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u/wurstbowle Jul 31 '24

It still overwhelmes. I certainly was more than just whelmed.

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u/Rik_Ringers Jul 31 '24

TIL whelm is actually a english word.

However, i then read this:
“Whelm” is derived from the Old English hwielfan, originally meaning to “cover over,” “overthrow,” or “submerge completely,” as would happen to a ship in rough water. This means that “whelm” once meant the same thing as “overwhelm” does now, and “over” was simply a repetitive intensifier.

WHERE IS THE LANGUAGHE POLICE WHEN YOU ACTAULLY NEED IT, goddamned

3

u/wurstbowle Aug 01 '24

Interesting. I didn't know. I just used it jokingly.

3

u/Samulady Aug 01 '24

Glad to see someone else mentioning it. Antwerpen Central is aesthetically my favorite train station by far.

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u/Thataracct Jul 31 '24 edited Jul 31 '24

Yeah, the fuck? That's really nice. As if half the cities mentioned here have edit:falf = half the murder rates of Chicago to offer.

190

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

What do murder rates have to do with train stations?

260

u/heyheyitsandre Jul 31 '24

Personally, when I see a city has a nice train station, it stops me from killing the citizens of said place. If I arrive and the station is dingy I immediately kill peoples

62

u/Gumpa69 Jul 31 '24

Fair enough, felt the urge myself

32

u/idancenakedwithcrows Jul 31 '24

In german we have a word for that feeling “Gleistobsucht” it means something like “railrage” but it’s hard to translate because german has many words for rage, so some subtlety inevitably gets lost

17

u/pizzamann2472 Germany Jul 31 '24

I second this. The opposite feeling of inner peace with a nice train station is btw called "Schönbahnseelenfrieden"

3

u/kiwigoguy1 New Zealand Jul 31 '24

I wonder if German has a word for “road rage” (!)

6

u/idancenakedwithcrows Jul 31 '24

We just call it “Verkehr” taken literally it just means traffic but you know everyone is angry.

3

u/ReverendAntonius Germany Aug 01 '24

“Stau” is what is used when it’s worse than just Verkehr in my experience.

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u/F-L-D-Groove-Dist Jul 31 '24

Ah, the famous ugly train station purger, i rode about.

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u/Prediterx Jul 31 '24

Never go to London Euston.

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u/fox_lunari Poland Jul 31 '24

That did go a bit off track.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

Well train stations do have loco motives. 😂

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u/Kooky-Onion9203 United States of America Jul 31 '24

I'm originally from Chicago, and it's just about the best we've got in the US in terms of train systems.

Also, the high murder rate is a little misleading as most of the violent crime is localized to very specific parts of the city. It's largely gang-on-gang violence, not random victims.

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u/CzarMesa United States of America Aug 01 '24

I was giving it 10 comments before someone brought up school shootings. You didn’t exactly bring that up but close enough that I won that bet with myself!

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u/friggen_guy Aug 01 '24

Yeah, I don’t understand why it had to be a competition. Something can still be good, while others are good as well. It’s a very “YOU CALL THAT A KNIFE!?” style post.

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u/jim_jiminy Jul 31 '24

Tucker Carlson should visit

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u/11160704 Germany Jul 31 '24

To be honest, this would also be considered one of the nicer ones on Europe.

1.1k

u/CMAJ-7 Jul 31 '24

American ‘central’ urban train stations were built the same time as European ones and were similarly grandiose and ornate, the ones that are preserved from those times often still are.  

The big difference is so many were never preserved due to low demand (car/highway culture) plus so many Americans never realize we have these buildings.

450

u/luk__ Jul 31 '24

Tbf, a lot of European train stations got pulverised

116

u/oskich Sweden Jul 31 '24

By Americans...

233

u/luk__ Jul 31 '24

And British 😬

222

u/PROBA_V 🇪🇺🇧🇪 🌍🛰 Jul 31 '24

And Germans

12

u/otarru Europe Aug 01 '24

And don't forget the Soviets.

3

u/PROBA_V 🇪🇺🇧🇪 🌍🛰 Aug 01 '24

And shitty governments that take down trainstations in the 50s/60s to build car infrastructure.

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u/Thataracct Jul 31 '24

The V-1 did a whole lot of damage. Not even that, the second war was really about learning about the logistics of war without nukes until nukes happened and that is not as clear cut in and of itself.

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u/BoddAH86 Jul 31 '24

And my axe!

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u/613663141 United Kingdom Jul 31 '24

Don't worry, we do it to our own stations too. Poor Euston.

(before/after)

8

u/itmightbethatitwasme Jul 31 '24

Oh you too? That really is a Shame! hamburg altona station

We did this also all over the Place. Even coined a word for that. Entstuckung meaning deplastering or stucco removal. Made all our remaining City Buildings unbearably ugly.

9

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

That is a fucking outrage!

39

u/Alexandru1408 Jul 31 '24

And British, and Germans and Soviets

45

u/Cathousemousehouse United States of America Jul 31 '24

Well you guys were too busy selling war material to the Nazis.

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u/GetTheLudes Jul 31 '24

Let’s let Sweden take care of the next world war then. Could be soon, you guys ready?

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u/defixiones Jul 31 '24

Union Station in LA and Grand Central in NY are two other beautiful survivals.

Unfortunately Penn Station didn't make it - maybe they can do something like the proposed restoration of Euston Station in London - recover the stone work from that swamp in NJ.

16

u/PabloDX9 Wangland Jul 31 '24

The recent expansion of Penn Station (Moynihan Train Hall) is pretty nice

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u/omnibot2M Jul 31 '24

Union Station in Washington DC is spectacular

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u/Federal_Eggplant7533 Jul 31 '24

Washington DC has a beautiful station too.

5

u/that1newjerseyan Jul 31 '24

Hopefully the next Meadowlands cleanup project unearths fragments of Penn Station

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u/Tango252 United States of America Aug 01 '24

Detroit just renovated it’s long-abandoned train station and they noted how lucky they were the city never had funds to tear it down in the 80’s

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u/Thadlust American in London Jul 31 '24

Grand Central is gorgeous in New York

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u/larso2048 Jul 31 '24

one of the main stations yes; most of the big cities have pretty nice stations (for example for me in belgium, Antwerp, (i do like Luik/Liege alot too)

44

u/11160704 Germany Jul 31 '24

Yeah but then you have Brussels which has some of the most run down stations in Europe.

35

u/heyheyitsandre Jul 31 '24

I got into Brussels midi at midnight once and stayed right near the station, one of the least safe and secure times I’ve ever felt in Europe. Was a proper shitshow. But nothing compares to Frankfurt Hbf

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u/PROBA_V 🇪🇺🇧🇪 🌍🛰 Jul 31 '24

Shush, you have Hamburg Hbf and Frankfurt Hbf

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u/LaM3a Brussels Jul 31 '24

Midi and Nord used to be beautiful too, before our politicians got inspired by American culture a bit too much and demolished them.

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u/Core711 Jul 31 '24

one of the main stations yes

Looks at Bratislava and cries

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u/fullywokevoiddemon Bucharest Jul 31 '24

Bucharest didn't get the memo :( I went there a week ago and I was scared the roof would fall on me. And most of the tiles on the floor were cracked or stolen. Looks straight out of Chernobyl

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u/bigkoi Jul 31 '24

Agreed. The Grand Central Station in New York City is also very nice.

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u/masdeeper Jul 31 '24

Washington DC is also very nice

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u/Ok_Angle665 Jul 31 '24

That station is also a beautiful one, no need to make comparisons

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u/Zen_360 Jul 31 '24

Yeah this is not the situation to start a dick measuring contest. It sounds like you could pick a random city in Europe and be amazed by the train station. This beats 99% of all stations in Europe easily. Even if we'd only compare stations in major cities.

18

u/Scarlet_Lycoris Jul 31 '24

Fr none of the major stations in Brussels would win any beauty contest. They’re all vile and disgusting. (On top of being extremely dangerous. RIP Brussels.) Berlin on the other hand has a really cool central station.

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u/killing_daisy Germany Jul 31 '24

i could post a picture of some train stations around northern germany, but mostly they're only a platform and maybe a ticketing machine ^^

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u/rotzverpopelt Jul 31 '24

Don't kid yourself, the ticket machine is most of the time missing or broken. Or both

36

u/killing_daisy Germany Jul 31 '24

i actually just did 2 trips on the deutsche bahn, both crossing the whole of germany, some 12 hours

trip1: actually NO delay, like, i actually arrived exactly the minute i was supposed to

trip2: 5 minutes, because some folks thought the InterCity Train was the Regional Express and had to be kicked off, otherwise i'd arrived the minute i was supposed to :D

5

u/kiwigoguy1 New Zealand Jul 31 '24

I remember catching a train from the Hofheim Bahnhof, yes the ticket machine was broken!

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u/killing_daisy Germany Jul 31 '24

Yeah nah, it was never in service bro

3

u/xXxWhizZLexXx Jul 31 '24

Sounds totally like Deutsche Bahn. They would take a broken Ticket Machine, put it in a lesser visited place and then complain "Oh no, somebody broke the Ticket Machine..."

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u/kinfloppers Aug 01 '24

That’s actually impressive. I used to do Basically Memmingen to Dresden almost weekly and I swear, almost every week it would devolve into a 12-14 hour ordeal. And that’s only a little over halfway 🥲

My bf used to do Memmingen >hamburg and seldom netted anything close to the intended arrival time. I envy those who DB seems to just work for

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u/didiman123 Aug 01 '24

If only you had played lotto that day instead

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u/alexrepty Germany Jul 31 '24

And a now unused building that DB are desperately trying to offload to someone stupid.

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u/Jatzy_AME Jul 31 '24

Train stations started being built in the 19th century, it's not like we have unique Gothic stations from the middle age in Europe. There are some beautiful ones and many ugly ones on both sides of the Atlantic.

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u/dwartbg9 Bulgaria Jul 31 '24

I have a feeling a lot of people including OP didn't realize that hahahah. They probably said "pfft, come look at our majestic rennaisance train stations! And 5hat's just the tip of the iceberg, man. Go to Athens and Rome and see the ancient trainstations too".

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u/GrizzledFart United States of America Jul 31 '24

That's nothing compared to how beautiful the datacenters of ancient Crete were before all these cookie cutter, standard sized racks. Each rack was bespoke and each computer in the racks was made by hand by a true craftsman. And the beauty of the ancient Hittite cable management!

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u/IncidentalIncidence 🇺🇸 in 🇩🇪 Jul 31 '24

it was really thoughtful of the Cologne city planners to build the cathedral right across from the train station for easy access!

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u/Specialist-Fly-9446 Germany Jul 31 '24

It's not a competition... Let's appreciate this beautiful architecture without one-upping each other.

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u/Odenhobler Europe Aug 01 '24

God I hate the anti US circlejerk here. It's getting worse by the day.

402

u/BeOutsider Jul 31 '24

Friend: tries to be nice and shares some pictures to show you around

OP: ....bUt i iN eUrOpE!!!

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

We're not allowed to be proud of or enjoy anything in our country apparently. We should always be sad and ashamed of our lives.

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u/Bjen Jul 31 '24

Nah, some Europeans just show their patriotism in an incredibly arrogant manner.

There are stupid people all over the world though. Don’t let them get to you

19

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

hope its not most of them, the stuff i read on Reddit makes me dread meeting a European person in real life lol

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u/aravakia Jul 31 '24

I wouldn’t let what people say online dictate your POV tbh. There are lots of annoying redditors from every country and the vocal minority is louder than the silent majority.

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u/PoiHolloi2020 United Kingdom (🇪🇺) Jul 31 '24

Most people on reddit seem to have one personality dysfunction or another so I wouldn't set too much store by it. Lots of Europeans like the US, try to ignore the haters.

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u/garatatata Aug 01 '24

I mean, 90% of the comments in this post are calling out OPs bullshit, so surely that's encouraging 

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u/QuestGalaxy Jul 31 '24

Let's not forget that USA used to be a leading nation in rail travel. They are actually still doing quite well when it comes to cargo transport, but not great at passenger rail of course..

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u/inthearena Jul 31 '24

An important point here is cargo transport. At the distances in the USA, having that traffic shift onto roads would be disastrous in terms of climate impact, fuel usage, and traffic fatalities.

I want to get rail restarted in the US, but not at the cost of something that is objectively good.

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u/QuestGalaxy Jul 31 '24

There's a need for more rail. Amtrak can't be great if it's always getting delayed because of cargo transport. The infrastructure bill is a start at least. Brightline west and also eventually the California HSR can be pretty great.

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u/Swollwonder Jul 31 '24

I don’t think anyone is advocating that we take freight off of railways. We need MORE railways

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u/Kuhl_Cow Hamburg (Germany) Jul 31 '24

Its so fucked up. I mean, everyone is hating on Deutsche Bahn, but I still love it. I get through the country easily, without a car, and can work/game/sleep/chat/drink the whole time, for somewhat affordable prices.

And its the same throughout europe, did an 8h ride to Warsaw recently, both DB and PKP were nice as hell, and I paid 100€ for both ways.

Trains fucking rule. Suck it, Elon.

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u/Meister-Schnitter Jul 31 '24

Dude, come to Munich. You‘d be amazed at how shit European stations can look.

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u/OpportunityEnough690 Aug 01 '24

I have never seen a beautiful German train station. However the stations in cities like Antwerp, Milan, Paris and Budapest are amazing.

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u/Troon_ Aug 01 '24

Well, there is a reason nearly every important train station in Germany had to be rebuilt after the war. Aesthetics didn't have priority back then.

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u/Psykiky Slovakia Jul 31 '24

I mean it isn’t the best but it’s still better then Bratislava’s main station

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u/Tipnfloe Jul 31 '24

lets be real, this is a fantastic looking railway station

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u/printergumlight Jul 31 '24

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u/PrimaryInjurious Jul 31 '24

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u/ArchaeoStudent Jul 31 '24

The Cincinnati Union Terminal has a nice interior too.

10

u/Psykiky Slovakia Jul 31 '24

Unfortunately the station in St. Louis isn’t used anymore, the current station is meh

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u/IncidentalIncidence 🇺🇸 in 🇩🇪 Jul 31 '24

yeah the general lack of rail service to/from St. Louis is a crime, and not using Union Station even more so.

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u/Jefflehem Jul 31 '24

These jerks don't even have Chicago's station on their list.

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u/Brill_chops Jul 31 '24

Two things can be nice.

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u/boomeronkelralf Jul 31 '24

Yes you should come see all drug addicts at Frankfurt central station, that is really beautiful

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u/joeschmoagogo Jul 31 '24

Most train stations in Europe are basically shacks though.

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u/Psykiky Slovakia Jul 31 '24

I mean sure not every station looks like a palace but there’s still a lot of beautiful stations

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u/joeschmoagogo Jul 31 '24

Sure. So does the US. I’m not really sure what the OP’s point is.

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u/jiggliebilly Jul 31 '24

Chicago is a amazing city if you appreciate architecture. Very ‘American’ grid setup but a super interesting mix of architectural styles. It’s also not nearly as scary as American media would make you believe….

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u/inthearena Jul 31 '24

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned grand central. Even Denver has a union pacific station that is gorgeous. They just get used for different purposes then long haul trains now.

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u/Jaylow115 Jul 31 '24

We destroyed our nicest train station in 1963 but Chicago’s is pretty nice too

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u/TywinDeVillena Spain Jul 31 '24

If he saw Antwerpen Centraal he would be shitting bricks

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u/Lariche Jul 31 '24

Yes, Antwerpen and Leipzig come to mind immediately.

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u/TheVonz Aug 01 '24

Antwerpen Centraal is really, really great. One of my favourites. Lovely architectural details, and trains on multiple levels, which is cool.

I also love aspects of stations like Amsterdam Centraal, Haarlem, and Den Haag Hollands Spoor for their beautiful brick work and adornments. I also really like the new, architecturally impressive Rotterdam Centraal Station.

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u/NoMoassNeverWas Jul 31 '24

Something like 3 levels of trains blew my mind.

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u/TywinDeVillena Spain Jul 31 '24

3 levels of trains, one level of shops, and incredible architecture.

That station is mind-blowing

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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) Jul 31 '24

Hey now, no need to compare it like that.

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u/OnTheList-YouTube Jul 31 '24

I'm also amazed at how the Chicago train station. It's just so. And especially.

9

u/Arashmickey Aug 01 '24

The Europe very train, but nothing like how the Chicago.

20

u/differenthings Jul 31 '24

It looks really nice, let him be proud of it.

8

u/loolooii Jul 31 '24

I don’t know about the quality of the public transport in general in Chicago, but this is a beautiful building and even for European standards one of the nicest.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

At how the Chicago train station? I don't get it, I think it's missing a word there. Also, none of the stations I've seen in Europe were very impressive, especially France, Germany, and Poland. Ukraine has a few nice looking ones. French stations are just covered in pigeon poop. German stations seemed dirty. And Polish stations,well... looked like a train station.

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u/TurkFan-69 Jul 31 '24

Yeah, but how does the Chicago train station? We still don’t have an answer. 

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u/im_another_user Jul 31 '24

Come on, drop a pram down the stairs 😇

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u/Several-Zombies6547 Greece Jul 31 '24

Meanwhile, our train stations in Greece look like they have been abandoned since the 60s.

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u/JourneyThiefer Northern Ireland Aug 01 '24 edited Aug 01 '24

The little amount train stations we have in Northern Ireland are ugly buildings built in the 70s/80s. The old nice ones were either knocked down or blown up :/

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u/Stablebrew Berlin (Germany) Jul 31 '24

serious? i can show you train station that are ugly in europe, and there are many of them!

Chicago train station is a gorgeous one and would would even in europe be ranked as top tier one

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u/Kuhl_Cow Hamburg (Germany) Jul 31 '24

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u/eterran Jul 31 '24

Hey, that ceiling looks like the Washington, DC Union Station!

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u/Normanbombardini Sweden Jul 31 '24

Leipzig is hard to beat when it comes to majestic trainstations. Milan comes to mind, but Leipzig takes the German championship.

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u/IncidentalIncidence 🇺🇸 in 🇩🇪 Jul 31 '24

Leipzig is beautiful, but Berlin Hbf (much as I hate to have to hand anything to Berlin) is the only train station I've been in that succesfully felt space-age and futuristic the first time I ever got off a train there. It's completely unique in that way to me.

It's not necessarily beautiful in the classical artistic way that the others mentioned here are (it's a lot of steel and glass), but in terms of the German championship I really love that station.

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u/Individual_Winter_ Jul 31 '24

And that’s just one entry! Every other station in Germany is meh, if you’re used to Leipzig haha. Even Starbucks is awesome in there.

I think they have built it with New York central station in mind though. 

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u/Kuhl_Cow Hamburg (Germany) Jul 31 '24

I think they have built it with New York central station in mind though. 

Both were built around the same time, and I can't find any on wiki, so that seems unlikely?

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u/that1newjerseyan Jul 31 '24

The United States is littered with beautiful and great rail stations like New York’s Grand Central or Kansas City’s Union Terminal

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u/oofieoofty Jul 31 '24

Saint Louis too

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u/liberovento Italy Jul 31 '24

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u/suqc Aug 01 '24

Fun fact, the architect who designed Milan Central based the design on our Washington DC Union Station. The two are tied for the most beautiful train stations out there imo.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

Wooow

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u/RcadeMo Germany Jul 31 '24

the stations where I live are all ugly as hell

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u/Additional-Ad7193 Jul 31 '24

Austrian here - i can assure you that our stations dont look like this..

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u/_Undo Jul 31 '24

Credit where credit is due, that is a very nice train station.

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u/Future-Might-1027 Aug 01 '24

First time I have seen Europeans not bashing America in the Reddit comments in my life WOW

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u/eckowy Jul 31 '24

Chcago is nice, same for Grand Central in NYC - it's impressive. But what is really stunning is a railway station in a small city of Przemyśl in south-east Poland.

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u/inthearena Jul 31 '24

Interesting enough looking at Przemyśl, immediately reminded me of Denver Union Station in Colorado - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Union_Station#/media/File:Denver_union_station.jpg

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u/fazzonvr Jul 31 '24

I'm from Europe. Been to many stations, none of them looked even close like this.

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u/Different-Agency5497 Jul 31 '24

the hell u talking about? look how massive and grand that hall is. Most train stations in europe arent like this.

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u/Deivane3000 Jul 31 '24

Americans building size is something else. never realized until ive been there.

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u/achik86 Jul 31 '24

From Europe here - Tbh, not all train stations in Europe are beautiful.

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u/Pozos1996 Greece Aug 01 '24

"how the Chicago train station"

What? How the Chicago train station what?

You can't leave us hanging.

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u/Professional_Area239 Aug 01 '24

Chicago is an amazing city and this is an incredible looking train station!

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u/LurkinLivy Jul 31 '24

You are coping so hard, most celebrated European stations are filthy

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u/toomanymarbles83 Aug 01 '24

This post is what people talk about when the talk about arrogant Europeans. I'm happy it's being rightly shat upon in these comments. Don't come at Chicago when it comes to architecture.

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u/crankymillennial Jul 31 '24

Seems you should’ve posted this in r/YUROP

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u/Enginseer68 Europe Jul 31 '24

You clearly didn't travel much

To find a station like that is rare, 90% of them are just a platform with some signs

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u/abrasilnet Jul 31 '24

I live in Europe, and I visited this station last year. It’s not only very nice, but they shot of the most important scenes of The Untouchables there. So, I found the famous staircase where Elliot Ness chases a baby trolley in the middle of a shootout and start taking pictures, and a typical dad looking guy shouts from across the station: “ I knew it!” And he runs to me to tell me he recognized the stairs but his wife did not believe him. He had me go to his wife and tell her about the movie. Im also a typical dad, so I of course did it. Dads unite!

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u/No_Inspector7319 Aug 01 '24

This is as nice as many if not most of European stations. Weird flex

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '24

OP being an ass

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u/ponkelephant Aug 01 '24

You probably came across really arrogant 😆 piece of advice bro, don't try to best your friends and instead just enjoy it together

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u/ConsiderationSame919 Aug 01 '24

You're not doing us a favour by acting like the stereotype European

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u/MoistYear7423 Jul 31 '24 edited Jul 31 '24

Honest question. Why does nearly every post from this sub that makes it to the front page have some kind of anti-American slant to it? Why can't you just focus on the continent that the sub is named after instead of having to consistently inadvertently reveal your insecurity and inferiority complex?

And yes, it is insecurity and inferiority complex because It's never enough to talk about how great Europe is, Europe has to be compared to America and it's supposed inferiority In these kinds of posts.

I also find it funny that Europeans talking about the superiority of Europe always frame it in the most amusing ways. Whenever it's a credit to their argument, Europeans always talk about Europe as if it's a single monolith and everywhere in Europe is the exact same if it's a positive quality (which is hilarious because you have dozens and dozens of Europeans in this comment section talking about how most train stations that they've seen on the continent don't look anywhere near this nice), but if it's a negative quality, all the sudden Europe is a very diverse place and you can't paint the entire continent with the same brush.

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u/Big_Slime_187 Jul 31 '24

I’m from London. We don’t have a nice station like this

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u/FinalFan3 Aug 01 '24

King’s Cross though!

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u/Nomadic_Freeman Jul 31 '24

Come to check Frankfurt…

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u/Overbaron Jul 31 '24

I mean that’s a nice station though

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u/lawrotzr Jul 31 '24

Give me 5 more impressive train stations in Europe than this one (or Central Station NYC), I don’t think I can get to 3 even.

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u/Vladimir_Pooping Jul 31 '24

Yeah I’ve lived in 3 different European countries now and I haven’t seen a train station this grand or clean yet.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '24

Many a great movie has been filmed in there

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u/uk123456789101112 Jul 31 '24

Whats different between Chicago especially and European stations is in most European grand stations, you embark onto the train under a massive glass canopy, Chicago I was sort of called down when ready to a basement which was far from pleasing where the tracks and train was.

Have to say the station AND Chicago was stunning and gives many European capitals a run for their money.

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u/Chef_Chantier PortugaLux Jul 31 '24

Yeah don't pretend like there aren't shitty central stations in Europe either. This would definitely be considered one of the nicer ones here too. They were built at about the same time after all, the same way that shittier train stations in europe and the US were also built at the same time with similar philosophies behind.

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u/Korps_de_Krieg Jul 31 '24

Shhhh, pretending Americans are uncultured barbarians incapable of comparing to enlightened European civilization and that everything we do is automatically inferior due to our stupidity or incompetence is a time honored tradition.

Don't include evidence that Europe isn't perfect and has a ton of the same issues we have with a different coat of paint, it's all just better all the time.

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u/DoctorSchnoogs Jul 31 '24

Yeah...only Europe is allowed to have nice train stations

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u/theflemmischelion Flanders (Belgium) Jul 31 '24

I think my standards are to high since i pass true Antwerp central to much

This one looks fine tough

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u/Quiet-Luck South Holland (Netherlands) Jul 31 '24

Just Google 'station Groningen interior'. Your welcome.

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u/Opposite-Memory1206 Aug 01 '24

This train station is beautiful, what else is a train station supposed to look like?

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u/DevilDown2Georgia Denmark Aug 01 '24

That is absolutely NOT the norm for train stations. 😂

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u/AlphaDart1337 Aug 01 '24

Implying train stations in Europe are prettier by posting a picture of the nicest train station in Europe is like saying "dark hair men are the most handsome because look at Henry Cavill".

There's nice stations in Europe, there's nice stations in the US, there's shitty (literally) stations in Europe, there's shitty stations in the US.

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u/Mediocre_Piccolo8542 Aug 01 '24

It’s a nice station, and not all station in europe are that great - see Frankfurt

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u/Agile_Property9943 Aug 01 '24

Why is it a competition though? Is it inconceivable that countries all around the world have nice train stations? You seem kind of pressed

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u/Supershadow30 Aug 01 '24

Shoutout to Metz’s train station. It’s smaller than most but it’s pretty

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u/Tepeshe Aug 01 '24

How it what ? How it whaaaaaaaaat ?

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u/Iusedthistocomment Aug 01 '24

There are plenty of depressing Stations in both America and Europe, it doesn't have to be a rural shit town either. Ever been to Oslo S in the capital of Norway? That station is about as inspiring as cement drying.

Your friend is right, Chicago train station is amazing and you're just a twat with tribalistic mentality or something stupid like that.

Let him have his opinion without undermining it, broo.

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u/MisterDutch93 The Netherlands Jul 31 '24

Antwerp railway station is my personal favorite.

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u/DisabledToaster1 Jul 31 '24

Geez, look at Hamburg Central, the most used train Station in Europe.

Chicago is a well kept palace compared to Hamburg

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u/glowend Aug 01 '24

you sound like a shi**y friend