|railway = station|
|A railway station|
|Rendering in openstreetmap-carto|
|Rendering in openstreetmap-carto|
|Used on these elements|
|Status: de facto|
|Tools for this tag|
- Main article: Railway Stations
Railway stations (including main line, light rail, subway, etc.) are places where customers can access railway services or where goods are loaded and unloaded. railway=station should be tagged as a node, placed at the centre of the station from the passengers' point of view (i.e. near platforms), or as an area covering the whole station.
How to map
Railway stations can be mapped as a node at the centre of the station from passengers' perspective or as an area covering the whole station (tracks, buildings, platforms, etc.). If mapped as a node it is usually an unconnected node within the platform area & should not not be part of a railway track way. There should be only one railway=station element for each station (See One feature, one OSM element).
If you want to map the station as an area, please consider that different people describe the station area differently. While passengers only have the area around the station building and the platforms in mind, railway staff and railway enthusiasts think of the whole railway area which begins at the entry signal at one side and ends at the entry signals at the other side.
While infrastructural areas can be added to a landuse area and tagged landuse=railway, this is already implied by railway=station. Some people connect a station node and the landuse area using an operating site relation, but this is likely not needed as there is already a spatial connection.
Where a mainline station and metro station (or other railway like station) share the same station building, consider if they should be modelled as separate stations or as a single station. The associated Wikipedia article for the facilities might assist with the decision. If the facilities are run by separate organisations (for example a heritage station next to a mainline station) then it is probably better to map them using two separate railway=station tags.
Following tags are commonly used on railway stations:
- uic_ref=number which is a unique code for railway stations as registered with the UIC
Distinction Between Halt and Station
The distinction between railway=halt and railway=station might differ from country to country. A halt is occasionally distinguished by its smaller size compared to a station, although it's unclear what size defines the difference. It can also be classified as a request stop. To make it explicitly clear, tag a request stop station as request_stop=yes.
- In Denmark and German-speaking countries, stations without points ("switches") where only passenger trains stop are tagged as halt. For more information see the german page.
Railway Station Layout
The following scheme is disputed. There is currently a discussion on the tagging mailing list about which scheme should be put here. See  for more information.|
An alternative scheme, in use since 2017, can be seen here: 
Things to avoid
- Do not add the words "railway station" in the name=* i.e. avoid name=Station Newton
- Do not use abbrevations, even if the railway company use them. Use short_name=* in addition.
- If the official name in documents differs from the name signs at the station, use official_name=*.
- railway=halt - to tag a smaller station.
- building=train_station - The buildings used to access the station & buy tickets etc.
- railway=tram stop - A place from which you can catch a tram.
- railway=platform - to map individual platforms at the station.
- disused:railway=* - Refer to this page to tag closed stations
- railway=subway_entrance - to go into a subway station.
- railway=yard - A rail yard
- landuse=railway - An area of land dedicated to train operation or support
- public_transport=station - alternative and less popular
- OpenRailwayMap and its feature-rich tagging scheme
- OpenStationMap map showing the levels of a station
See Karlsruhe Central Station for reference. The Gare du Nord, in Paris also applies this model (with references to various networks for long distance lines, high-speed lines, regional commuter trains and subways).
- https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/railway=station - more than 90k uses, public_transport=station has about 40k uses when used in meaning "railway station" - see https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/public_transport=station#combinations