A central station designates the principal passenger railway station of cities which have multiple stations. The central station functions as the main transport hub for rail transport, normally with interchange with other modes of public transport. Certain services, such as intercity of high-speed routes make their only stop in the city at the central station, while commuter services may serve all stations in the city. A central station may be a terminal station, with all services ending at the station, or may permit through services.

Foreign language names for central station include Hauptbahnhof (abbreviated Hbf or HB) in German, Gare centrale in French, hlavní nádraží (abbreviated hl. n.) in Czech, Centraal Station (abbreviated formerly as CS and currently as Centraal) in Dutch, Główny in Polish, Főpályaudvar (abbreviated főpu.) in Hungarian, sentralstasjon in Norwegian, centralstation in Swedish, and hovedbanegård in Danish.

Central stations in Malaysia is called Sentral, the Malay spelling for the English word central.

A union station is a central station which serves more than one railway company. This is most commonly used for naming of North American stations, where several private railway companies serve the same cities, but the term was also used prior to the nationalization of railway companies in Europe.

• Central Station -- This is an interchange station in the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system, which links together the Template:HK-MTR lines, the Template:HK-MTR lines, the Template:HK-MTR lines and the Template:HK-MTR lines. The station is named after the Central District on Hong Kong Island, where it is located. Unlike the central stations in most other cities in the world, this station is not served by intercity trains.
• Hung Hom Station -- This is currently the only station in Hong Kong for border-crossing trains to cities in China. After the opening of the Kowloon Southern Link, Hung Hom Station will also become an interchange station of the Template:HK-MTR lines and the Template:HK-MTR lines in the MTR system. Practically speaking, this station is the de facto central station of Hong Kong.
• West Kowloon Station -- This is the proposed terminal station for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, a high-speed intercity railway that connects Hong Kong to cities in the Chinese province of Guangdong. It will also link together the Template:HK-MTR lines, the Template:HK-MTR lines and the Template:HK-MTR lines of the MTR system. Therefore, it will potentially become the new de facto central station of Hong Kong.

Many of these cannot be said to be "principal" stations, and are merely called Central to distinguish them from other stations called North, South, East or West, or for reasons of prestige. For instance in Liverpool the principal station is Lime Street.

• Acton Central railway station
• Belfast Central railway station
• Birkenhead Central railway station
• Burnley Central railway station
• Cardiff Central railway station
• Coatbridge Central railway station
• Dumbarton Central railway station
• Exeter Central railway station
• Finchley Central tube station
• Folkestone Central railway station
• Gainsborough Central railway station
• Glasgow Central railway station
• Greenock Central railway station
• Hackney Central railway station
• Hamilton Central railway station
• Helensburgh Central railway station
• Hendon Central tube station
• Hounslow Central tube station
• Hyde Central railway station
• Leicester Central railway station
• Lincoln Central railway station
• Liverpool Central railway station
• Manchester Central (Conference Centre)
• Milton Keynes Central railway station
• New Mills Central railway station
• Newcastle Central railway station
• Central Station Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro
• Redcar Central railway station
• Rotherham Central railway station
• St Helens Central railway station
• Southend Central railway station
• Southampton Central railway station
• Telford Central railway station
• Walthamstow Central station
• Warrington Central railway station
• Wembley Central station
• Windsor and Eton Central railway station
• Wrexham Central railway station

• Amsterdam Centraal
• Den Haag Centraal
• Leiden Centraal
• Rotterdam Centraal
• Utrecht Centraal
• Antwerpen-Centraal railway station
• Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal railway station

In German-speaking countries, the general term for a central station is "Hauptbahnhof", literally meaning "Main Station" but also translated as "Central Station"

• Aachen Hauptbahnhof
• Arnstadt Hauptbahnhof
• Aschaffenburg Hauptbahnhof
• Augsburg Hauptbahnhof
• Bayreuth Hauptbahnhof
• Berchtesgaden Hauptbahnhof
• Berlin Hauptbahnhof
• Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof
• Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof
• Bochum Hauptbahnhof
• Boppard Hauptbahnhof
• Bottrop Hauptbahnhof
• Brandenburg Hauptbahnhof
• Brunswick Hauptbahnhof
• Bremen Hauptbahnhof
• Bremerhaven Hauptbahnhof
• Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof
• Cologne Hauptbahnhof
• Dortmund Hauptbahnhof
• Dresden Hauptbahnhof
• Duisburg Hauptbahnhof
• Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof
• Essen Hauptbahnhof
• Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
• Hamburg Hauptbahnhof
• Hanover Hauptbahnhof
• Leipzig Hauptbahnhof
• Mainz Hauptbahnhof
• Munich Hauptbahnhof
• Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof
• Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof
• Ulm Hauptbahnhof
• Vienna Hauptbahnhof - the new central station for Vienna, currently under construction.
• Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof
• Würzburg Hauptbahnhof
• Zürich Hauptbahnhof

• Central railway station, Brisbane, in Brisbane, Australia
• Buffalo Central Terminal, in New York, United States
• Chennai Central railway station, in India
• Central Station (Chicago), in Chicago, United States
• Central Station (Chicago terminal), in Chicago, Illinois, United States
• Grand Central Station (Chicago), in Chicago, Illinois, United States
• Central (ETS), a light rail station in Edmonton, Canada
• Central (CTA Purple Line), in Evanston, Illinois, United States
• Gothenburg Central Station, in Sweden
• Helsinki Central railway station, in Finland
• Central Station (MTR), on the Hong Kong MTR metro system
• Malmö Central Station, in Sweden
• Central Station (Memphis), in Memphis, Tennessee, United States
• Milan Central railway station, in Milan, Italy
• Central Station (Montreal), in Canada
• Grand Central Terminal, in New York City
• Oslo Central Station, in Oslo, Norway.
• Central Station (Rio de Janeiro), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Estación Central railway station in Santiago de Chile.
• Roma Termini railway station, the central station of Rome, Italy
• Stockholm Central Station, in Sweden
• Central railway station, Sydney, in Sydney, Australia
• Trivandrum Central, in Kerala, India
• Trondheim Central Station, in Trondheim, Norway
• Warszawa Centralna station, in Warsaw, Poland
• Porta Nuova, the central station of Turin, Italy