World's Most Stunning Metro Stations

1. Stockholm Metro (Sweden):

Stockholm Metro was first opened in 1950, and today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. The metro is 105.7 kilometers (65.7 mi) long. It was the idea of artists Vera Nilsson and Siri Derkert to use art to beautify the metro stations.

2. Paris Metro, France:

Paris has one of the densest metro networks in the world, with 245 stations within 86.9 km of the city of Paris.

There are 300 stations on the route. Paris is the second busiest metro system in Europe, after Moscow. It carries 4.5 million passengers a day and an annual total of 1.479 billion (2009).

3. Kievskaya Metro, Russia:

Kiyevskaya features tall, octagonal pillars topped with elaborate capitals. The pillars were originally faced with Armenian onyx, but this was replaced with yellowish Gazgan marble after ten years.

4. Athens Metro, Greece:

As of December 2010, the system served 33 stations. It is being heavily used, earning a daily ridership of more than one and a half million passengers. During the construction of the metro tunnels, numerous artefacts of archaeological interest were discovered.

5. Komsomolskaya station, Russia:

Komsomolskaya stationis a Moscow Metro station in the Krasnoselsky District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. The Komsomolskaya station is one of the biggest attractions in Moscow. It opened on 30 January 1952 as a part of the second stage of the line.

6. Alisher Navoi Metro Station, Tashkent:

Tashkent's subway owes its grandeur and scale to Russia but its elegant style to the local Muslim population. Finished in 1977 while Uzbekistan was still part of the Soviet Union, it was built amid a flurry of construction after a massive earthquake leveled the city in 1966.

7. Dubai Metro:

Dubai Metro is a driverless, fully automated metro network in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai. The first section of the Red Line, covering 10 stations, was ceremonially inaugurated at on September 9, 2009, by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. The Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula. More than 110,000 people, which is nearly 10 per cent of Dubai's population, used the Metro in its first two days of operation.

8. Bilbao Metro, Spain:

In total, the Metro has 40.61 km (as of 2009) of rail tracks, with 38 stations (22 of them underground and 16 outside) and 74 accesses (not counting elevators) and 9 substations. Bilbao is famous for its grand stations designed by Sir Norman Foster. Another interesting aspect is the use of energy from renewable sources.