‘Most beautiful’ 120-year-old train station is abandoned under the world’s richest city | World | News
There are plenty of beautiful train stations around the world, and most of them can be visited easily with trains arriving every few minutes. But there is one station hidden beneath the world’s richest city that most people will never see. It has been called one of the most beautiful stations ever built, yet no passenger train has stopped there since 1945.
People who have visited it say the experience feels surreal. One person said: “It’s a very strange experience visiting the station. It looks like it should be in use today based on how pretty it is, but there are no trains ever stopping.”
Another added: “It’s by far the most beautiful train station I have ever visited. It’s a surreal experience.”
The station sits underneath New York City, which is officially the richest city in the world based on the number of millionaires and billionaires living there.
According to Henley & Partners’ World’s Wealthiest Cities Report, New York is home to 349,500 millionaires, 744 centi-millionaires, and 60 billionaires, more than any other city on the planet.
The train station in question is called City Hall Station, also known as City Hall Loop.
It opened on October 27, 1904, as part of New York’s very first subway line.
Designed by architects George Heins and Christopher LaFarge, the station was built to impress, with curved platforms, Romanesque Revival details, brass chandeliers, and tiled ceilings created by master builder Rafael Guastavino.
At the time it was considered the showpiece of the entire system.
But as New York’s population grew, the small curved platform could no longer fit the city’s longer trains.
With the larger Brooklyn Bridge station only about 600 feet away, City Hall Station was eventually closed to the public on December 31, 1945.
Even though passengers can’t use the station, trains still pass through it. The 6 train uses the loop to turn around, and people who stay on board past the final stop can get a quick glimpse of the abandoned platform as the train curves through.
Anyone wanting to visit properly has only one option.
The New York Transit Museum says: “Old City Hall Station tours go on sale three times a year to members. The next round will go on sale in January 2026.”
Tickets cost $50 (£38) and sell out very quickly. Tours last around 90 minutes. They start above ground with a history of New York’s first subway plans, including Alfred Beach’s early pneumatic tube experiment, before heading below City Hall Park to explore the station itself.
Visitors can see the vaulted ceilings, the original tilework, the remaining leaded-glass skylight and the elegant chandeliers that still hang from the arches.
Anyone who wishes to secure tickets can visit New York Transit Museum’s website here.
