MBTA Green Line train platform at Hynes Convention Center.

MBTA Wonderland bound train from the Aquarium Station. Passengers on the platform getting on the train.

Large crowds waiting for trains on April 6th. Crowds filled downtown Minneapolis after Fall Out Boy, Chris Stapleton and a Twins game earlier in the night.

TRIP Outreach and riders at the Warehouse District/Hennepin Ave Station in downtown Minneapolis. March 2024.

Multiple sets of railway tracks converge toward the distance beneath a grid of steel catenary supports. A man in a dark suit walks along the yellow tactile line on Platform 4, while another commuter waits across the tracks. Overhead signs mark platform numbers, and signal lights display red and amber. The station canopy and surrounding buildings form an industrial backdrop, with a faint view of hills beyond the city.

A quiet moment inside the Kyoto City Subway at Shiyakusho-mae Station, where the red-lined doors and bright vending machines reflect the city’s clean, orderly transit design. The tiled floors, yellow tactile paving, and minimalist signage embody the practical beauty of Japanese public infrastructure. Empty corridors like this highlight the calm rhythm of off-peak urban life in Kyoto.

Cedar-Riverside LRT trains station in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Randolph/Washington station sits beneath the heart of downtown Chicago, forming part of the CTA Red Line that runs through the State Street subway. Opened in 1943 as part of the city’s ambitious subway expansion, the station connects directly to the extensive Chicago Pedway system, linking offices, retail centers, and civic buildings underground. Its tiled vault and distinctive 1940s-era design remain largely intact, representing the Art Moderne phase of Chicago’s transit infrastructure.

The Chicago Transit Authority’s Sox–35th station serves the Red Line on the city’s South Side, positioned above the Dan Ryan Expressway near Pershing Road. The station provides direct access to Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, whose name can be seen across the pedestrian bridge in the background. Opened in 1969 as part of the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line, the elevated structure was designed for efficiency amid highway traffic, symbolizing mid-century Chicago’s integration of mass transit and freeway infrastructure.

Located near the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis, the Target Field light rail station was patrolled by Homeland Security officers on October 10, 2019. The increased presence coincided with a major political rally at the nearby arena, leading to heightened security across the surrounding Warehouse District transit corridor.

The York Street Station in Brooklyn, New York.

A staircase leads to the exit at the 47–50 Streets Rockefeller Center subway station in Manhattan. The station serves the B, D, F, and M lines.

A Metro-North Railroad train sits at a platform inside Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The stainless-steel cars reflect the dim lighting of the underground station, where exposed pipes and graffiti-marked beams highlight the aging infrastructure of the busy commuter hub.

A Metro-North Railroad train is seen at a station platform, its blue-and-white exterior bearing the MTA logo. The commuter rail line, operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, connects New York City with suburbs across New York State and Connecticut.

A Metro-North Railroad train waits at a platform inside Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The concrete pillars and exposed beams of the underground station frame the tracks, where the yellow warning strip lines the edge of the platform.

Westminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. On the Circle and District lines, the station is between St. James's Park and Embankment, and on the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station is located at the corner of Bridge Street and Victoria Embankment and is close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge, and the London Eye. Also close by are Downing Street, the Cenotaph, Westminster Millennium Pier, the Treasury, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Supreme Court.

The angular steel and concrete design of Westminster Underground Station represents one of the most ambitious architectural undertakings of London’s Jubilee Line Extension, opened in 1999. Designed by Foster + Partners, the station descends more than 30 meters below ground beside the Houses of Parliament, requiring deep excavation and advanced structural engineering to stabilize the surrounding historic area.

The stairwell seen here showcases the station’s signature industrial aesthetic — exposed concrete ribs, perforated metal panels, and massive supporting beams that evoke the look of a subterranean cathedral of infrastructure. Built within a massive box excavated beneath Bridge Street, Westminster’s layout integrates vertical circulation through lifts, escalators, and these steep stairways connecting the ticket hall to multiple underground levels. The design not only accommodates heavy passenger volumes but celebrates the raw mechanics of public transit, merging utility with architectural expression.

The Jubilee Line platforms at Westminster Underground Station represent the deep-level engineering and modernist design of London’s late-20th-century transit expansion. Constructed as part of the 1999 Jubilee Line Extension, these platforms sit approximately 30 meters below ground, directly beneath the District and Circle line tunnels. Designed by Foster + Partners, the station features full-height platform screen doors — a safety innovation uncommon on most of the Underground — and a sleek system of acoustic panels and perforated aluminum cladding that enhance both sound control and visual uniformity.

Every structural and material detail reflects the project’s dual purpose: to manage immense passenger flow serving Parliament and Whitehall above, while preserving architectural clarity within a highly constrained urban site. The smooth curvature of the platform walls, precision lighting, and isolation of mechanical systems behind layered steel panels highlight the station’s integration of industrial functionality with the aesthetics of modern infrastructure.

Deep beneath central London, Baker Street’s Metropolitan Line platforms reveal the layered engineering of one of the oldest functioning railway systems in the world. The exposed brick tunnel and steel framing date back to the Victorian “cut-and-cover” era of the 1860s, when steam locomotives first ran through these very corridors. The heavy red girders seen above were reinforced during modern refurbishments, supporting the city streets above while housing utilities and cable conduits that power today’s Underground network.

The train at the far end belongs to the S8 Stock series, introduced in 2010 by Bombardier for the Metropolitan Line, equipped with air conditioning and regenerative braking. The dense web of cables and control boxes along the wall carries signal, communication, and traction power circuits, all vital to the line’s safe operation. Baker Street’s infrastructure embodies London Transport’s continual evolution—from soot-covered tunnels to precision-controlled, electrically powered systems still running along the same 19th-century alignments.

Baker Street Station’s Metropolitan Line platforms represent one of the oldest sections of the London Underground, opened in 1863 as part of the world’s first subterranean railway. The terminus platforms, seen here, retain their cut-and-cover Victorian brickwork paired with modern safety updates and striking red-painted steel reinforcements added during later refurbishments.

The station originally served the Metropolitan Railway’s steam-hauled trains running between Paddington and Farringdon before electrification in the early 20th century transformed the network. Period signage advertising “Chiltern Court” and the original Metropolitan Railway branding pay homage to its heritage, contrasting with the exposed wiring, signal lights, and tiling that reveal more than 160 years of evolving underground infrastructure. Today, Baker Street remains a key interchange, connecting five Underground lines while preserving much of the industrial atmosphere that defined London’s pioneering approach to mass transit.