Basarab | ||||||||||||||||
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 Track used by the M4 line, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
| General information | ||||||||||||||||
| Location | Basarab Train Station Sector 1, Bucharest Romania | |||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 island platforms | |||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||||
| Structure type | Underground | |||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 26 August 1992 (M1) 1 March 2000 (M4) | |||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||
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Basarab is a metro station in Bucharest. It is located near the Basarab railway station (Gara Basarab), which is part of Bucharest's main railway station, at the intersection of Calea Griviței and Nicolae Titulescu Avenue.
Access to Gara Basarab proper (a small annex of Gara de Nord, used mainly for commuter trains) is possible via a tunnel crossing the 14 platforms and tracks of Gara de Nord.
The station has four tracks on the same level, two of the tracks on each side of the station, and two as a pair in the center, leaving space for two wide platforms. The two central tracks are used by M1 while the outermost tracks are used by M4, leaving one platform to be used for northbound trains and one for southbound trains. Each platform has very long and thick wall-like columns, spanning for three quarters of the station, allowing access between the M1 and M4 sections through 6 points. This was done to easier conceal the work being done on the M4 side while passengers were using the M1 side. The design of the two sides, although part of the same station and even the same platform, is quite different – the M1 side features white-grey marble walls and floors, with a grey travertine roof arranged as to form a square grid, lit by square white fluorescent neon lights built inside the grid while the M4 side features orange synthetic walls, black Azul Noce granite on the floors, and yellow neon lighting running in a continuous line along the station, above the tracks. The station is usually announced in trains at Gara de Nord, Grivița, and Crângași as "the place to switch between M1 and M4".