"Inter-city rail travel is one of the dominant facts of modern life. From the early nineteenth century, when the first train stations - "cathedrals of technology," buildings without precedent in the history of architecture- were constructed, these focal points of transportation have enjoyed a unique status in public life. They have come a long way from the simple wooden shed erected in Liverpool, England, in 1830." "In the wake of the rail renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s, new train stations, from the U.S. to Japan, must respond to increasingly complex challenges, as high-speed trains become more and more common and the next generation of magnetically levitated trains approaches. The state-of-the-art examplesfeatured in Modern Trains and Splendid Stations are analyzed from several perspectives: as generators of urbanrenewal; as new architectural icons; and as connecting points from different means of transportation. Such internationally renowned architects as Helmut Jahn (in theUnited States), Nicholas Grimshaw (in England), and Arata Isozaki (in Japan) have all been involved in station design."--BOOK JACKET.