Europe's Ugliest Train Stations

By renewing Madison Square Garden's lease for only 10 years, New York's City Council signaled that relief for passengers using the city's dreadful Penn Station may be in sight. Which of Europe's loathsome stations might be next?

1 minute read

July 29, 2013, 7:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Rome Termini Station

Paolo Margari / flickr

"The eviction notice for Madison Square Garden offers the best opportunity in decades to revive Penn station," writes Jason Farago. "Earlier this year the Municipal Art Society presented a quartet of new design proposals from architects such as Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who masterminded the reconstruction of Lincoln Center, and ShoP Architects, designers of the Barclays center stadium in Brooklyn. All the proposed designs eliminate the underground maze of today's Penn station, and bring passengers back up into the city."

Despite America's inclination to look to Europe as a model for all things rail-related, one can find equally detestable train stations in cities like London, Rome, and Budapest. Farago spotlights some of the worst.   

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