27th November 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the first high speed train to Lyon Part Dieu Station, built a few years earlier along with a large urban development. In the following years many European cities have had existing stations remodelled or new ones built, all of them have been adapted to the new services. All this operations have led to profound changes in their surrounding areas. This paper analyzes key aspects of 10 of these operations, and highlights the complex analysis and planning processes as a result of the collaboration among rail and transport engineering experts, architects, urban planners and finance specialists.