duesselmartin
Established Member
Totally agree. Ludwigshafen Hbf is a nightmare.Having only changed trains there I can't comment on what the city is like, but Ludwigshafen(Rhein) Hbf takes some beating in my book!
Totally agree. Ludwigshafen Hbf is a nightmare.Having only changed trains there I can't comment on what the city is like, but Ludwigshafen(Rhein) Hbf takes some beating in my book!
Even by Germans, the city is joked about as being nothing besides a polluted wasteland dominated by BASF. That should give you an idea of what the city is like.Having only changed trains there I can't comment on what the city is like, but Ludwigshafen(Rhein) Hbf takes some beating in my book!
As you’re fairly local - is the open space at the southern entrance to Essen Hbf still a druggie’s haven that smells like a sewer? Used to hold my breath when passing through it as I did nearly every day for two years. Mind you - that was 20 years ago.Since we are at Paris bashing, I hate that monstrosiaty Montparnasse.
In Germany, München Hbf is beginning to show clear signs of decay. Literally falling apart is my local station. Duisburg Hbf.
In Germany, München Hbf is beginning to show clear signs of decay.
I seem to remember Brussels Central itself was very uninviting but it's some years since I was there.Brussels Kapellekerk/Chapelle station immediately comes to mind. Two run-down island platforms in central Brussels between Brussels-Central and Brussels-Midi stations, lots of graffiti everywhere and a very limited 1 tph weekday only local service until approximately 8pm with all other trains passing through the station without stopping.
Just a tiny little bit less appalling is Brussels-Congres station between Brussels-Central and Brussels-North, located in the same tunnel as Brussels-Central, which looks like nothing has changed in the last decades and has a very eerie feel to it. Weekday only local service until 8pm as well, although this station has 2tph calling there.
I seem to remember Brussels Central itself was very uninviting but it's some years since I was there.
Krefeld Hbf seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance in the last couple of years. DB certainly neglected it as its importance declined but VRR have since taken control of many regional stations in the area and is sprucing them up. Monchengladbach is going through a similar revival, I can remember it being much worse.[West]Germany: Duisburg HBF and Krefeld HBF-scrapheaps
Yes it is.As you’re fairly local - is the open space at the southern entrance to Essen Hbf still a druggie’s haven that smells like a sewer? Used to hold my breath when passing through it as I did nearly every day for two years. Mind you - that was 20 years ago.
Krefeld Hbf has improved a lot and their are grand plans for Duisburg. Only locals dont believe it until it happens. Last time DB failed to get a contractor for the price they wanted to pay.Krefeld Hbf seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance in the last couple of years. DB certainly neglected it as its importance declined but VRR have since taken control of many regional stations in the area and is sprucing them up. Monchengladbach is going through a similar revival, I can remember it being much worse.
The whole NRW region is undergoing something of a reinvention following the massive decline of heavy industry. Some cities had become decidedly grim around 2010-15 but they seem to have turned a corner now.
Beijing East station - basically in a slum in the middle of Beijing with no convenient access to the surrounding Central Business District, which is now mainly used as a freight station with only very few slow passenger services.
I went there to take a train to the outer suburbs.Actually, I wonder why any foreigner would go there (I've never been).
The rail side definitely felt like the "forgotten" part when I visited. The Metro station was a little more polished and the adjoining shopping centre actually quite decent, complete with large Tesco.Kőbánya Kispest is a very demic station, on the outskirts of Budapest. I’m saying that, none of the stations I visited in that area were shall we say “luxury” but that one really stood out at being demic, for what felt like a pretty major interchange too.
I went there to take a train to the outer suburbs.
And fortunately I have taken a few pictures, posted on my blog, just before the renovation in 2017.The rail side definitely felt like the "forgotten" part when I visited. The Metro station was a little more polished and the adjoining shopping centre actually quite decent, complete with large Tesco.
It really annoys me what has happened in Beograd.It's a car park on the edge of the city in the middle of nowhere. One shop that is sporadically open, and no nearby bus or tram (bus 36 stops about 10 mins walk away). No roof until recently !
Whatit replaced (which was going to be a railway museum run by Serbian Railways post closure, but is now going to a "Museum of Serbian History", to be run by a close associate of the ruling party)
To be fair, the 2017 refurb doesn't look massively different to what you experience other than a few LCD screens and gateline. The metro station is still under construction and according to Wikipedia will open in 2022."the passenger station was small and aged, with only few departures per day. Its usage was so little that only before a train arrives the station was opened to passengers, and the supermarket for the station was already out of business."
It seems that, after the renovation, it has now become the expected standard for a suburban station.
I went to see Centar, which was eerily quiet for the main station of a capital city. There were more trains there than waiting passengers. The platform area was actually quite good I thought, but the location is terrible, and the exterior design of the station is awful as shown by that picture.
Yes - Belgrade has to be experienced to be believed - both local stations and some of the trains that serve them - the following were in 2018.It really annoys me what has happened in Beograd.
Beograd Glavna (Main) was a beautiful grand station. Although not in the very centre, it wasn’t that far away and had a tram interchange with various routes, and was right next to the coach station. So, a really good location. The area was busy on my visit in summer 2019, even though there were no trains. I witnessed them demolishing the platforms. Even then, the ticket hall was still open with staff selling rail tickets.
I went to see Centar, which was eerily quiet for the main station of a capital city. There were more trains there than waiting passengers. The platform area was actually quite good I thought, but the location is terrible, and the exterior design of the station is awful as shown by that picture. There is a bus link to the city centre, number 36, which did stop outside the station on my visit, but that’s it. I can imagine they have lost many passengers since this become the main station.
There is actually a local rail link from Centar to the western area of the city centre. It goes underground where there are a few stations, which were originally built for the Metro system which never happened. The stations here are also very dilapidated, intimidating and just not fit for purpose. The graffiti covered Soviet-built rolling stock with steep steps and plastic school chairs as seats certainly didn’t improve the experience (as an enthusiast I enjoyed it, but it’s no good for the people regularly using it).
The two underground stations are Karadordev Park and Vukov Spomenik. The first isn’t that exceptional, but Vukov Spomenik is a large grand Russian-style Metro station which must have looked great when it was built in the 1990s but in 2019 was falling apart, with a semi-abandoned shopping centre attached to it. I walked through some of the shopping centre and part of it was almost pitch black with no lighting. Quite incredible!
NATO bombed Belgrade in 1999!a lot of Beograd seems to vandalism. and 25 years after WWII was 1970.
like Germany 1967 then. Only Germany had full destruction.NATO bombed Belgrade in 1999!