Railway stations
![]() |
![]() |
Description |
A place where trains stop and passengers board and disembark. |
Tags |
Railway stations are often complex and include both transport connections and varying amenities. A complex station can be mapped to varying degrees of detail using the following tags and descriptions.
Overview
A straightforward railway station may be mapped using the structure and tags shown in the diagram below :
More complex stations, such as termini and other main stations in cities and may need to be mapped to a different level of detail. See below for descriptions of suitable tags.
Location
- A node or polygon should be tagged as railway=station or railway=halt to mark the actual station/halt. (rather than being on a node, this tag could be on the whole station)
- A node on a track way should be tagged as railway=stop to mark the estimate point at which the actual train stops.
- Tracks within a station should be ways that are tagged as railway=rail.
- To aid in route planning, platforms should be drawn and tagged as railway=platform and ref=*
- Optionally, station concourses and galleyways should be tagged as highway=footway, with optional name=station concourse / galleyway name when a specific name is known, and should link platforms.
- If a station has multiple entrances, consider railway=subway_entrance.
Building
For larger stations it is often convenient to mark the entire station building. To complete this, create a closed way and use the tag, building=train_station. Currently there are a number of proposals relating to subterranean stations (subway, underground).
It is especially convenient in route planning to include the building entrances. This is accomplished by tagging the appropriate nodes in a building's boundary as building=entrance or railway=subway_entrance. These entrances will often be seen as the intersecting node of a buildings boundary way and a station concourse (footway) way.
Element | Key | Value | Description | Additional tags | Comment | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Station buildings![]() |
building | train_station | Outline of the station building(s) | Optional tags : name=* may be identical to railway=station, but in such cases probably best omitted, operator=First Anglia;Network Rail... wheelchair=yes;limited;no layer=* addr:street=* addr:housenumber=* addr:postcode=* public_transport=station Number of floors building:levels=* (do not include mezzanine floors or the platforms in this total). |
Care may be needed when the station consists of a number of buildings. | ![]() |
Entrance![]() |
entrance | yes;main;exit; service;emergency |
Entrance to a building | On main entrances add railway=train_station_entrance and also ref=* and/or name=* if these exist. The tag exit_to=* can be used to indicate that the entrance provides access to a aprticular locality of amenity (e.g, bus station, car parking, town centre). Other optional tags : wheelchair=yes;limited;no level=* layer=* access=yes;customers;private |
![]() | |
Étage ou palier![]() ![]() |
building:part | floor | A floor within the station building(s) | Specify the name of the floor with level:ref=* For example level:ref=platform access ou level:ref=ticket hall. |
If the building has multiple levels, a separate building:part=yes must be created for each floor, including the ground floor. | ![]() |
Layer or level
The railway station building as well as the railway lines arriving in it may frequently be organized in multiple levels with many different footways, highways and railway lines at different levels. level=* is probably preferable when there is a close correspondence with building levels, layer=* should be used to define crossings with no meaningful reference to building levels.
Amenities
Station buildings often contain many amenities. Where appropriate, these amenities can be individually marked by a node and tagged.
Some amenities often found in station buildings and around their locality can be found below;
- amenity=atm
- amenity=cafe
- amenity=fast_food
- highway=bus_stop
- railway=subway_entrance
- amenity=pub
- amenity=telephone
- amenity=vending_machine with vending=public_transport_tickets, vending=food, vending=drinks, vending=sweets or vending=parking_tickets
- amenity=ticket_validator
Freight railway stations and shunting yards
railway=yard - a railway station for freight. This includes yards that don't involve the loading or unloading of freight.
The mapping is documented at yard and freight station tagging and follows the OpenRailwayMap tagging system.
Stations and sites which are not currently in operation
If the station is not currently in service, it should generally not be tagged railway=station. See https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/2013-February/012918.html .
- Station temporarily out of service (might be run down, but is still a station)
- disused:railway=station
- Station permanently out of service (definitely not coming back, maybe it's a hotel now)
- railway:historic=station; or (no consensus)
- historic:railway=station
- Station has been dismantled (perhaps a few remnants such as old platforms.)
- railway:historic=station_site
Note that railway stations without any traces whatsoever (for example open pit mine is now where railway station used to be) should not be mapped in OSM. Open Historical Map is a better fit.
- Station under construction
- construction:railway=station
|