Wikipedia:Naming conventions (US stations)

This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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WP:USSTATION

This is a standard naming convention for transit stations – including intercity rail, commuter rail, rapid transit, light rail, and bus rapid transit – in the United States. The guideline is related to naming conventions for stations in Canada (WP:CANSTATION), Ireland (WP:IRLSTATION), Poland (WP:PLSTATION), and the United Kingdom (WP:UKSTATION).

The guidelines eliminate some features of the previous unwritten conventions: they eliminate preemptive parenthetical disambiguation and encourage the inclusion of the term "station" when it is part of the common name.

Naming convention

Generally, U.S. station articles should be titled by their common name, followed by "station" if not already part of the name.

In cases where the common name includes the word "Station" as a proper name, "Station" should remain capitalized in the article title. This often occurs when the station is named after the railroad company or is a named transit facility. Examples:

In cases where the proper noun "Station" is not part of the common name, the common noun "station" should be appended to the article title as a form of natural disambiguation. In this case, "station" should be in written in lower case per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters. Such disambiguation is usually needed to distinguish the station's article from the city, neighborhood, street, or building for which it is named. Examples:

Astor Place station (naturally disambiguated from Astor Place)
Millbrae station (naturally disambiguated from Millbrae, California)

A complex station name may be precise enough to be unambiguous. However, the qualifier "station" should still be appended to maintain consistency with the many other stations that need disambiguation. Examples:

If a station's common name includes a descriptive term such as "Depot", "Terminal", or "Transit Center" that is roughly synonymous with "Station", the word "station" should not be added. If that common name is used as a proper name in reliable sources, it should remain capitalized in the article title. Examples:

Official names

The main naming conventions discourage the use of official names when other names are more common and available. In cases where the official name differs from the common name, the official name should be included in the lead, but not the article title. In some cases, an official name may serve as appropriate natural disambiguation to distinguish from other articles if the common name is ambiguous. Regardless, any alternative names for a station should redirect to the station article.

Slashes

Where a station includes a slash in its name, such as Delta Park/Vanport station, do not include spaces around the slash. Thus Delta Park/Vanport station is preferable to Delta Park / Vanport station.

Disambiguation

In cases where stations have ambiguous names, disambiguate them according to the disambiguation policy and guideline. Use natural disambiguation if available (e.g. Chicago Union Station, which uses a common alternative name to distinguish Chicago's "Union Station"). Otherwise add a distinguishing term in parentheses. Context will determine the most suitable distinguishing term. Examples:

Disambiguation by state: This option may be appropriate for stations serving Amtrak and other intercity rail, especially when there are stations in multiple cities that have the same name. For example, the Amtrak stations in Birmingham, Alabama and Birmingham, Michigan are distinguished as Birmingham station (Alabama) and Birmingham station (Michigan).
Disambiguation by city: This option is especially appropriate for stations that serve more than one system or mode of transit. For example, Union Station (Jackson, Mississippi) distinguishes the subject from other articles called Union Station, four others of which are in Mississippi. It is also appropriate for systems that are located entirely within an easily recognizable city, for instance 7th Street station (Charlotte) in Charlotte, North Carolina, but note that in many major cities, transit systems reach out into suburbs that may not be recognizable. For city names, generally follow the guidelines at Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names) § United States.
Disambiguation by system: This option is appropriate when there are ambiguously named stations serving different systems, especially those located in the same state or city. For example, Passaic station (NJ Transit) distinguishes the article from Passaic station (Erie Railroad), both located in Passaic, New Jersey. This may also be a good option when the system is likely to be more recognizable for readers than the city, such as when a major metropolitan area's transit system has stops in outlying communities. For example, the Washington Metro is more recognizable than the suburban county Fairfax County, Virginia in distinguishing Vienna station (Washington Metro).
Disambiguation by line: This option distinguishes stations with ambiguous names in the same system. For instance, Western station (CTA Orange Line) and Western station (CTA Brown Line) are both stations of the Chicago "L".

In determining the distinguishing term in the parentheses, it is necessary to keep in mind what the article must be distinguished from. The decision may be affected by ambiguously titled stations in other countries, former stations, and unrelated items that happen to share a name. Wherever necessary, make sure that all ambiguous articles are included on a disambiguation page. For example, Newark station should disambiguate between Newark Penn Station, Newark Broad Street station and Newark station (Delaware) and other articles of this title.

Examples

Disambiguation	Title
None	30th Street Station, Kalamazoo Transportation Center
Natural disambiguation (adding "station")	Arlington Cemetery station, Raritan station
Natural disambiguation (alternate or official name)	Barstow Harvey House, J. Douglas Galyon Depot
Natural disambiguation (integrated place name)	Tampa Union Station
Parenthetical disambiguation (State)	Burlington station (North Carolina), Burlington station (Iowa)
Parenthetical disambiguation (City)	Government Center station (Miami), Convention Center station (Jacksonville)
Parenthetical disambiguation (System)	Crystal City station (Washington Metro), Crystal City station (VRE)
Parenthetical disambiguation (Line)	Western station (CTA Brown Line), Western station (CTA Orange Line)

Lead

Per a 2016 RfC and the Manual of Style's first sentence guideline, in general, the station's name in the lead sentence should be the same as the article title (minus the parenthetical disambiguation if present). For example, the Culver City station article should begin:

Culver City station is an elevated light rail station in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system in Culver City, California.

Use of the article "the" preceding the station name is optional.