World's 'biggest' train station five times bigger than Grand Central is now open
The Chongqing East Station in China has just opened its doors and is set to be the world's largest train station, surpassing London's King's Cross in size
A colossal new train station has just flung open its doors, seizing the title of the world's largest - it's over five times the size of New York City's iconic Grand Central Terminal. The former record holder, Grand Central, now pales in comparison to the newly finished Chongqing East Station in China, which sprawls across an astonishing 1.22 million square metres.
The construction of this behemoth wrapped up on June 27 2025, after a little over three years of development. The super-station boasts 15 platforms and 29 tracks. Visitors are immediately struck by its grand architectural design and towering tree-like columns that echo the huang jue trees native to the region.
A standout feature is the roof's glass curtain wall, which floods the station with natural light and casts shifting patterns on the floor resembling waves.
The roof itself is a wonder, with its steel structure weighing more than 4,400 tons. It was constructed using millimetre-precision engineering to create a soaring, multi-curved canopy reminiscent of a forest of trees, reports the Express.
The project came with a hefty price tag, estimated at £5.82 billion. It features ventilation grilles shaped like flowers and a bamboo-scroll-style welcome sign, marrying futuristic engineering with Chongqing's natural and cultural heritage. The train station, roughly the size of 170 football pitches, is situated in Nan'an, Chongqing, a sprawling city in China.
Chongqing East Station, a major hub for several high-speed lines including the Chongqing-Xiamen, Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu, and Chongqing-Wanzhou railways, is set to offer speedy connections to key cities.
Travellers can reach Chengdu and Guiyang in just one hour, Xi'an and Wuhan in three hours, and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen within six to eight hours. The station boasts an impressive capacity to handle up to 16,000 passengers every hour. One of the standout features of this bustling station is its air-rail integration system.
Passengers heading to Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport can check in for domestic and some international flights directly from the train station, making travel more streamlined than ever before.
Other amenities include free high-speed Wi-Fi, more than 5,000 seating spaces, with 1,000 equipped with USB ports as well as a wide mix of food options ranging from fast food chains like McDonald's and KFC to local favourites serving up spicy Chongqing cuisine.