Wikipedia:Notability (Railway lines and stations)

This is an essay on notability.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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This page in a nutshell: An article about a railway station or railway line could be created if there's enough referenced information to make it encyclopedic. Otherwise, include the station or line in a parent article.

Notability

A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. For general advice on notability of articles see WP:N.

The primary Wikipedia notability criteria for organisations (WP:ORG) would also need to be consulted. In particular, a company, corporation, organization, group, product, or service is notable if it has been the subject of coverage in secondary sources. Such sources must be reliable, and independent of the subject. The depth of coverage of the subject by the source must be considered. If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources should be cited to establish notability. Trivial or incidental coverage of a subject by secondary sources is not sufficient to establish notability. Once notability is established, primary sources may be used to add content. Ultimately, and most importantly, all content must be attributable.

Transport and parent article

General information about transport is included within a parent article on a place, often with a dedicated section, example Kraków#Transport, and then split out per WP:Summary style into a standalone article when there is sufficient material, example Transport in Kraków
Specific information about transport, such as stations, routes, and transport companies, is also included within an article on a place, often with a dedicated section, example Manchester#Transport, and then split out per WP:Summary style into standalone articles or lists when there is sufficient material, examples Manchester Airport, List of railway stations in Greater Manchester, First TransPennine Express, Greater Manchester bus route 192, etc.
While there is generally some relation between transport and a place, some transport topics cover the vehicles, safety, occupations or some other non-geographic aspect of transport that doesn't require a place parent article, or the connection may be to a larger geographic location, such as British Airways to United Kingdom
Where possible, start a transport article within the appropriate parent article, splitting out per summary style when the material becomes large enough

Transport companies and their lines and stations

If a transport company is notable, information on its products and services such as routes and stations should generally be included in the article on the company itself, unless the company article is so large that this would make the article unwieldy.

When discussion of products and services would make the article unwieldy, some editorial judgement is called for. If the products and services are considered notable enough on their own, one option is to break out the discussion of them into a separate article following WP:Summary style. If the products and services are not notable enough for their own article, the discussion of them should be trimmed and summarized into a shorter format, or even cut entirely.

If a non-notable line or station has its own article, be bold and merge the article into a parent article such as the company or geographic place article or propose it for deletion.

Note that a specific line or station may be notable on its own, without the company providing it being notable in its own right. In this case, an article on the line or station may be appropriate, and notability of the company itself is not inherited as a result.

Stations

There are many thousands of railway and subway stations. The question is sometimes raised as to whether one of these places is notable enough for a standalone article. Wikipedia:Notability says: "A topic is presumed to be notable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject."

If enough attributable information exists about a station or railway line to write a full and comprehensive article about it, then it may be appropriate for the subject to have its own article. For proposed or planned stations, historic railway stations that only existed briefly, or stations on metro, light rail, tram, people mover, or heritage railway lines, if insufficient source material is available for a comprehensive article, it is better to mention the station in an article about the line or system that the station is on.

In general, older/historic railway stations will have some information written about them. Many are protected in some form or another by relevant heritage building laws (a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States or registered with the Riksantikvarieämbetet (RAÄ) in Sweden). These registries will often contain valuable information about the design/architecture of the station and provide a brief history. As railways were important means of transportation, many railway stations have been involved in any form of conflict/war and historical information can often be found relating how the railway station was used during the war.

Otherwise, some stations have an interesting quirk or odd bit of trivia associated with them that can help establish notability (design features, being the least used/most used on a rail line); this information can be incorporated into the Wikipedia article about the station.

Wikipedia is not a timetable

Shortcuts

Simply replicating information from published timetables, or repeating information (such as train times or service hours) which is subject to frequent change, may be considered directory writing. Distinguish between stating, for example, that a station is served by a certain number of trains per hour, and specifying the times of those trains. The former is information about the significance of the station; the latter is timetable information.

Wikipedia is not a travel guide

Articles on stations could include information about their facilities and amenities, but providing a listing of every ordinary or mundane facility may be considered excessive. It is not notable to tell us whether a station has toilets (unless there has been notable coverage specifically about this presence/absence), but it may be to tell us that the station had/s Motorail facilities. If the station has a shopping centre attached, tell us this; there is no need to specify the shops. Information useful to travelers is very welcome at Wikivoyage.

Stations are in places and on lines

Articles about stations could be linked to articles about the places they are in (or serve) and the lines or systems they are part of. Where there is no article about a station, information can be presented in the article about the place and/or in the article about the relevant train line or company. Such articles could be linked, and, where possible, linked to the relevant section of the article.

Stations are more than just places trains stop

An article on a station could include information on any buildings, public art, or associated infrastructure. Ideally, there could be relevant images to illustrate these, and aspects of architectural notability could be included (e.g. the architect, listing on historic registers, unusual elements, etc.).

Use redirects

A redirect to a section of an article about a place (or about a train line or system) which presents information about a specific station may be more appropriate than an article about that station.

Include maps and diagrams

Articles on train systems and lines could include maps and diagrams. The former show the geography of a system or line; the latter indicate the relationship of different lines or stations.

Use tables to summarize lines

Where only basic information about related stations exist, considering presenting it as a table within a relevant article, rather than creating articles for each station.

Don't repeat information unnecessarily

If information is presented in an article on a line, it does not necessarily need to be repeated in an article about a station (or vice versa). Consider whether the information is appropriate to the station in particular, or the line in general, and place it accordingly. Links between articles should allow a reader to obtain all of the information.

Audience

When considering reliable sources, the audience must be considered per WP:CORPDEPTH. Evidence of attention by international or national, or at least regional, media is a strong indication of notability. On the other hand, attention solely from local media, or media of limited interest and circulation, is not an indication of notability.