Riding a metro can be a pleasure, especially when the view out of the windows does not end at the inside of a dark tunnel. Some of the world's elevated metro stretches offer nice views of cityscapes or landmarks. The following selection of the most spectacular views is the result of a discussion on Urbanrail newsgroup. Thanks to the photographers who provided some of the images!
Please note that many of the photos below are only of an informational character and do not show the best views possible from the trains. Photos of some places are still missing at all. If you have photos, links or suggestions, please go to the Metro Bits Forum.
Athens
Metro line 1 passes the archaeological site of the Agora (limited view). The same line also has a magnificent view of the Olympic Complex Park designed by Santiago Calatrava, and on its route from Thission to Petralona provides a panoramic view of the Gazi area which is an old Gas Fuel factory transformed into a cultural complex.
Baltimore
If you're approaching downtown Baltimore from the south via the Light Rail, there's a bridge that goes over the middle branch of the Patapsco river that is like a roller-coaster view of the city.
Berlin
On the elevated Stadtbahn stretch, S-Bahn lines S5, S7, S75 and S9 provide nice views of Berlin's major landmarks (see photos). Metro line U1 provides a view of Spree river between Schlesisches Tor and Warschauer Straße stations.
U-Bahn lines U1 and U2 provide a view of the new remarkable Potsdamer Platz buildings from the stretch between Gleisdreieck and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park stations.
Until now, this metro on the Italian island of Sicily consists of a short line with four underground stations. The at-grade part of the line runs along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea:
The downtown Loop (circumference 2mi) is located amidst the world's first and most famous skyscraper buildings. The Tourist Office provides popular guided architecture tours around the loop with vintage subway trains. Randolph-Wabash station (see picture) is on the Loop.
The best view from a train to Midway is as it makes the turn at 54th and Knox, just a few blocks from the little airport. The L tracks have to go over the Belt RR tracks and occasionally there will be a plane landing on the runway that's parallel to the L. The train is actually higher than the plane. Incredibly cool!
Frequent views of the Irish sea along the ride make DART one of the most attractive suburban metro lines in the world. The line is running north and south of Dublin along the coast around the bay. Beaches can be seen, cliffs, and islands in the distance. The photo shows the view out of the window near Killiney station.
From Rödingsmarkt to Landungsbrücken, the elevated U3 line runs for about 1 km along the harbourfront with a view of oceanliners and historic stock buildings.
Docklands Light Rail (DLR) is a driverless metro, and especially from the seats in the first row you can see it all: yacht harbours, skyscrapers, the Millennium Dome and much more. The following picture shows one of the red-blue DLR trains swooshing past near Limehouse station.
Line 4 (Filjovskaya, light blue) runs over a bridge across the Moscow river near Kievskaya station and provides a view of the grand buildings in the centre of the city. The bridge was built in 1938 (see pictures). Line 1 runs over another bridge across the Moscow river.
There are good views of the bridges over the Tyne on the metro bridge that crosses the river between the undergound portions in central Newcastle and Gateshead.
Line G at Smith/9th Streets offers a perfect view of the Manhattan Skyline (see picture). Line 7 provides a similar view at 33rd St-Rawson Queensboro Plaza. For a more detailed description of the sights see this MSNBC article.
Line 6 (see picture; on Pont de Bir Hakeim) and line 2 together form a circle around the city. They run mostly on elevated tracks and provide views of the Eiffel tower and other sights. Line 1 provides a view of La Defense.
There are some nice views across the harbour and the city's interesting highrise architecture on the Erasmuslijn around Rijnhaven and Maashaven stations.
The elevated sections of the BART in the East Bay offer gorgeous views of the East Bay hills to the east (see picture: northbound train at Union City) and of downtown San Francisco to the west. You get a particularly good view of the city after you leave West Oakland station but before you go into the transbay tube -- it's quite impressive when it's foggy. Another BART sightseeing tidbit: if you are waiting on the platform of the elevated El Cerrito Del Norte station, you can get a good view of both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge.
On its way from Slussen to Gamla Stan, the T-Bana crosses the sea on a bridge, offering a nice view of the mediaeval old town with its beautiful buildings.
Although the view is a bit impeded, the one from the Bridge looking down onto the harbour, opera house etc. is pretty cool. There's also a view of the harbour from Circular Quay station (see picture).
The Bloor-Danforth subway line goes underneath the handsome arch bridge spanning the Don Valley. When riding it you shoot out of a dark tunnel and out into a huge aerial vista.
Views of the Danube Canal on line U4 between Friedensbruecke and Landstrasse, the Danube on line U6 between Handelskai
and Floridsdorf, the UN headquarters (see picture) and the Danube on line U1 between Kaisermuehlen and Kagran, the cityscape towards the south on line U6 between Gumpendorfer Strasse and Laengenfeldgasse.
A couple of the United States capital's landmarks are visible from elevated sections. You can see the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument from the Yellow Line between L'Enfant Plaza and Pentagon. Best view is going towards Mount Vernon Square at the front of the train. The canopy at the Rhode Island Avenue station frames the dome of the Capitol (see picture below). It has been reported that the station was built at this angle specifically for this reason.
