SMELLBOOK REFERENCE · SB-0050
Subway / Metro
Permanent ID: smellbook: · updated 2026-10-06, revision 5
Character EDITORIAL
A metro station smells metallic, dusty and warm, with a slightly industrial, oily note and a stale air that moves in gusts.
Words: metallic, dusty, industrial. Families: Wood, earth and stone, Animal, material and lived-in.
Met in: Metro, Station.
Evidence
Scientific evidence
- Solvent compounds in bus and metro interiors (CLM-COMMUTE-001). Wai-Lun Lau & Lo-Yin Chan, Commuter exposure to aromatic VOCs in public transportation modes in Hong Kong, Science of The Total Environment, 2003.
Historical evidence
- No smell of damp on the first Underground (CLM-UNDERGROUND-001). James Hain Friswell, A journey underground, Once a Week, 1862.
Molecules named in these claims: ethylbenzene, toluene. A molecule listed here is named in a VERIFIED claim about this smell. It is not presented as the cause of the smell; each claim says what its source supports.
Cite
SmellBook. (2026). Subway / Metro (revision 5, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:subway-metro. https://smellbook.com/smells/subway-metro
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