Train stations of the zombie apocalypse

[hmpf]

What's up with the German rail system? Twice in the past two months I've had to wait at train stations that gave the impression that I had accidentally stepped into a time machine, landing me in an apocalyptic future (or, perhaps, not in the future but in Pripyat). A first taste was Flensburg central station, in mid-August:

Lower right corner: see all the grass and trees there? That's not a park or a garden - that's a platform. It's not currently in use - obviously - but even for an unused platform, it's *spectacularly* untended. It's like guerilla gardening taken to a whole new level, or a kind of test run for The World Without Us. Here's another picture. Take a look at those nice wild roses...

And today, I had a ten minute wait at Frankfurt Ostbahnhof. Thankfully - for without those ten minutes, I wouldn't have been able to identify the train station as, well, a train station. Or as a building intended for human use, come to think of it. I kept walking around it, looking for 'the *real* train station'. There are no adequate online pictures of the desolation. This doesn't begin to do it justice. Note that that page is three years old. It's considerably worse now; Frankfurt Ost now has its own version of the Flensburg guerilla garden.

It also smells like a toilet.

Comments

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Alas, train stations around here usually look like this (and never, NEVER get stuck in the 'Westphalian Hub' Hamm) - it's terribly interesting to see nature take back the broken tarmac for a biologist ^^

[ralphwynn.livejournal.com]

its kinda interesting how it all grows up over and around buildings. Tho I do prefer small quaint victorian stations even tho they dont get steam trains anymore

Not related...

[tgifa.livejournal.com]

but I saw this (environment) on spotlight, and since I thought you might be interested but maybe not around to notice it for yourself, I just wanted to tell you :)