Ugliest Metro Station

[iampuking]

What is the ugliest/grimmest metro station in your city, or any city?

I'll show some of the ugliest in London.

Mile End

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Stepney Green

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Moorgate

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Euston Square

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Gunnersbury

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[lipe_andreense]

Many of the first station are pretty ugly in São Paulo, but in my opinion, Paraíso Station is the ugliest, in Line 1












and also Luz Station:

[sweek]

When it was being built before World War I, Chambers Street was envisioned as a City Hall terminal, a kind of downtown Grand Central at a time when the business and population center of the city was still closer to the southern end of the island. Three years after it opened, its four wide platforms were so overcrowded that one newspaper article described them as more dangerous during the rush hours than at the Grand Central or the Fourteenth Street Stations.
But by the mid-1920s, the subway itself was pushing the city's population north and leaving Chambers Street behind. By as early as the 1930s, in fact, the station's ridership had dropped off so steeply that half of it was closed.
Walking around the station now, it seems as if half of the station has not been cleaned or repaired since the 1930s, either. Platforms are piled deep with the detritus of the years — an old push broom, a broken umbrella, a toaster and several foothills of soda bottles, all of which could be precisely dated according to the depth of the dark-brown steel dust coating them. In one part of the platform, an original Heins and LaFarge terra cotta plaque of the Brooklyn Bridge seems to have been crowbarred off the wall. In another, the yellowish-white water damage is so extensive it appears that a crew of C.H.U.D.s has tried to eat its way to daylight.

—Randy Kennedy, "They're Subway Experts. Take Their Word on What's Ugly," The New York Times,

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

[Timon91]

Boston has some very ugly ones on the green line.

[Tubeman]

Its interesting that the ugliest stations in London are of a similar design to most stations in New York and even then look brighter / more cheerful. There is something quite opressive about the flat roof and columns layout of Mile End which is also the absolute standard for the NYC Subway.

[Svartmetall]

I can absolutely vouch for the ugliness of Euston Square. Early morning waits just after network opening for a tube to Paddington (for the Heathrow Express) to make an early morning flight make me cringe.

Mind you, anything is better than our "metro" stations in Auckland! We've only got commuter rail, but you guys might as well have a look:

Firstly Ellerslie Train station (pretty standard look for Auckland railway stations. This was burned down by an arson attack recently and so has been redeveloped). Look also at our lovely stylish DMU's!



The footbridge and the location (next to the busiest motorway in New Zealand) unfortunately hasn't changed.

[iampuking]

Originally Posted by sweek

When it was being built before World War I, Chambers Street was envisioned as a City Hall terminal, a kind of downtown Grand Central at a time when the business and population center of the city was still closer to the southern end of the island. Three years after it opened, its four wide platforms were so overcrowded that one newspaper article described them as more dangerous during the rush hours than at the Grand Central or the Fourteenth Street Stations.
But by the mid-1920s, the subway itself was pushing the city's population north and leaving Chambers Street behind. By as early as the 1930s, in fact, the station's ridership had dropped off so steeply that half of it was closed.
Walking around the station now, it seems as if half of the station has not been cleaned or repaired since the 1930s, either. Platforms are piled deep with the detritus of the years — an old push broom, a broken umbrella, a toaster and several foothills of soda bottles, all of which could be precisely dated according to the depth of the dark-brown steel dust coating them. In one part of the platform, an original Heins and LaFarge terra cotta plaque of the Brooklyn Bridge seems to have been crowbarred off the wall. In another, the yellowish-white water damage is so extensive it appears that a crew of C.H.U.D.s has tried to eat its way to daylight.

—Randy Kennedy, "They're Subway Experts. Take Their Word on What's Ugly," The New York Times,

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

Christ, disused stations in London look nicer than that!

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Its interesting that the ugliest stations in London are of a similar design to most stations in New York and even then look brighter / more cheerful. There is something quite opressive about the flat roof and columns layout of Mile End which is also the absolute standard for the NYC Subway.

It's definately the flat roof that does it, mostly where it is left undecorated, Bow Road for example has recently been refurbished and the roof has been cleaned and painted and it looks great. The only deep level stations that are that bad are maybe Holland Park? The old Shepherd's Bush (Central line) was also pretty grim...

Oh yes, and Redbridge, how could I forget! I think this is probably the worst, it's even worse than the others as it's nearly always deserted, that just makes it creepy.

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Holland Park

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Old Shepherd's Bush (station is closed for refurbishment currently), it's also interesting in that the platforms overlap, unlike any other tube station

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I've always hated the colour combination at Piccadilly Circus, too

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[sweek]

I know. London's stations are all very high quality, really. This is part of the same station in New York, Chambers Street. I believe this is now closed but you can still see it from the other platforms as this was taken in 2006.

[Knuddel Knutsch]

^

respect....now I know why americans like commuting with suvs

[Mr.Underground]

No stations can be uglier than QT8 in Milan.

[X38]

Originally Posted by sweek

I know. London's stations are all very high quality, really. This is part of the same station in New York, Chambers Street. I believe this is now closed but you can still see it from the other platforms as this was taken in 2006.

[img]*horrible picture*[/img]

Jesus Christ, is that station in service???!! Here in Antwerp, we have "sleeping" sation who are looking cleaner than this...

[ovem]

Originally Posted by Mr.Underground

No stations can be uglier than QT8 in Milan.

any pics?

[RawLee]

KöKi(Kőbánya-Kispest) metro station,the disgrace of Budapest,where every tourist arrives who comes from the airport via BKV:

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(apart from 1,all from flickr)

[MelbourneCity]

Pretty ugly station in Auckland! About on par with some of Melbourne's!!!

Atleast that station will probably have some kind of rebuilding with electrification in the next few years!

[city_thing]

Originally Posted by sweek

I know. London's stations are all very high quality, really. This is part of the same station in New York, Chambers Street. I believe this is now closed but you can still see it from the other platforms as this was taken in 2006.

Jeeeeezus!

How can you let people use a station like that... it's below 3rd world standard. I knew stations in NYC were bad, but not that bad.

Even if it was 'the worst of the worst', it's still mind boggling to think that the MTA allowed that station to be in use whilst in such a condition.

And Iampuking, I'm a huge fan of Piccadilly station, leave it alone!

The station at Heathrow for terminals 1, 2 and 3 is terrible I think. It could and should be much better. Am yet to see the one at T4 and T5.

[city_thing]

The District Line station at Victoria Station in London always used to make me feel a bit ill actually. The west bound platform is tiny and gets so crowded. I left London 2 years ago though, maybe it's changed...

[Cosmin]

Originally Posted by city_thing

How can you let people use a station like that... it's below 3rd world standard. I knew stations in NYC were bad, but not that bad.

Half of that station is closed. This is the part you can see in these pictures. It's fugly and dirty, agreed, but how the hell can one imagine that those platforms are still in use when they look like that?!

It's part of the BMT Nassau Street Line and it's serviced by J, M and Z trains. It has two other sister station nearby. One, Chambers Street–World Trade Center, on the IND Eighth Avenue Line is serviced by the A, C and E trains. The other, Chambers Street, on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, is serviced by the 1,2 and 3 trains.

Here's the map, so you have a better understanding...

[*Jarrod]

Pretty much all the stations in Edmonton are all fugly as hell.

[lipe_andreense]

Originally Posted by Svartmetall

I can absolutely vouch for the ugliness of Euston Square. Early morning waits just after network opening for a tube to Paddington (for the Heathrow Express) to make an early morning flight make me cringe.

Mind you, anything is better than our "metro" stations in Auckland! We've only got commuter rail, but you guys might as well have a look:

Firstly Ellerslie Train station (pretty standard look for Auckland railway stations. This was burned down by an arson attack recently and so has been redeveloped). Look also at our lovely stylish DMU's!



The footbridge and the location (next to the busiest motorway in New Zealand) unfortunately hasn't changed.

it looks like some CPTM lines here in São Paulo, buit for suburban trains in 1930's

[Jünyus Brütüs]

Originally Posted by sweek

people get sick easily if they visit such a station. looks like a sewer