ghost station

noun

A disused metro station that is passed through, but not stopped at, by passenger trains.

Meanings

nounghost station (plural ghost stations)

plural ghost stations

  1. A disused metro station that is passed through, but not stopped at, by passenger trains.
    1 more example

    In Berlin, however, there is a handful of 'proper' ghost stations that can still be uncovered and observed, if not always visited. They constitute one of the German capital's lesser-known Cold War features, the so-called Geisterbahnhoffe^([sic]). […] Ghost stations (and platforms) appeared as a direct result of the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. […] With the collapse of the Wall and the reunification of Germany, the divided stations and railway lines of Berlin were 'reunited' too. The last 'ghost station' was reopened to all passengers in 1992, and the very term - "ghost station" - had come to denote any disused platform remaining from the divide.

    2025 October 29, Vitali Vitaliev, “Haunted by the past”, in RAIL, number 1047, page 68

Origin

  1. GermanGeisterbahnhöfe
  2. Englishghost station

Calque of German Geisterbahnhöfe, originally describing stations in Berlin that were closed during the Cold War.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ghost station. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ghost%20station

MLA

“ghost station.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ghost%20station. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ghost station,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ghost%20station.

Source: ghost station on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.