European New Railway Station Design Tendency Study

Railway’s opening is a symbol of the industrial revolution. The history of the railway system and the train station is also a history of the development of our modern city. For over two centuries, changing of the way in traffic is also changing the lifestyle and our perception of the world. The conflict between the progress of modern civilization and pre-modern society can also be seen in the interaction between cities and railways. Many train stations need to adjust into the new era by renovation, expansion or rebuilt after being demolished. Many train stations are replaced by their adjacent station because of urban expansion and line regulation. These areas which located in the city center have become abandoned islands, and also the’headache’in city development. Over 200 years’European railway history has formed the new theory after 3 stages. This is the result of learning from failure and innovation.However there are too many issues in railway station design, including both of urban design and architecture design. We are lack of comprehensive theories even today. The shortage of theoretical guidance make the Chinese difficult to control large scale railway station projects. Most of them are designed by foreign companies which do not understand China well. In condition of rapid building background in China, we urgent need to learn the new concept. Otherwise, we are building the future risks when building the cities.I summarize the design tendency in European railway stations and the causes by researching different European railway stations on site, targeting one built excellent project carefully and going through the literatures. May this thesis be valuable for scholars in this field.