TRACK FACTS

How well do you know your
Transit Tourism?

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There are 193 subway or metro systems around the world, as of this writing. The oldest is London (1863) and the newest is Quito, Ecuador (2024).
Shanghai and Beijing jockey back and forth for the world’s largest system (~500 route miles), while the smallest is Lausanne, Switzerland (3.7 miles).
Beijing’s subway network—with 505 route miles (much of it built in the last 20 years)—is larger than the Boston, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia systems combined (445 route miles).
The world’s deepest subway station is Arsenalna in Kyiv (346 feet), while the shallowest likely are those on Budapest’s original Földalatti line (under 10 feet).
Some of the world’s largest “subways” in fact have extensive sections above ground, such as London (57 percent of stations) and even New York (39 percent).
The 400 stations of the Paris Métro are the most closely-spaced of any major system, averaging under 600 yards apart.
There are dozens of “ghost stations” (abandoned subway stops) on systems throughout the world, including in London, Madrid, New York, Philadelphia, and Stockholm.
Moscow reportedly has a super-secret subway —“Metro-2”—built in the 1960s connecting the Kremlin with an outlying underground command bunker and living quarters, to whisk Russian leaders to safety in event of nuclear war.
Several cities have made their stations into veritable art galleries with extensive installations: Brussels, Naples, São Paulo and Stockholm stand out. Stockholm has 20 “cave stations” where the granite rock contours have been decorated by artists.
New subway construction has unearthed major finds that have been incorporated into station design in Mexico City (Aztec pyramid), Naples (Roman temple) and Istanbul (Byzantine era shipwrecks)