Visp railway station

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Visp
The new station building from the street.
Location
Address	Bahnhofplatz 2 3930 Visp
Municipality	Visp
District	Visp
Canton	Valais
Country	Switzerland
Coordinates	46°17′38″N 07°52′53″E / 46.29389°N 7.88139°E / 46.29389; 7.88139Coordinates: 46°17′38″N 07°52′53″E / 46.29389°N 7.88139°E / 46.29389; 7.88139
Line(s)	Lausanne–Brig Spiez–Lötschberg Base Tunnel–Brig Brig–Visp–Zermatt (BVZ)
Distance	35.08 km (21.80 mi) from Zermatt
Elevation	650.2 m (2,133 ft)
Other information
Electrified	1 October 1929 (1929-10-01) (BVZ)
Platforms	2 (standard gauge) 1 (metre gauge)
Line ops	SBB-CFF-FFS Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn
Connections
	Postauto Local buses
Location map
Visp railway station Visp railway station (Switzerland)

Visp railway station is a junction station at Visp (French: Viège), in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a modern station building completed in 2007, and is served by two standard gauge lines and a metre gauge line.

Visp station is now the busiest railway station in Valais, and is one of the ten busiest railway stations in Switzerland.

Every day, about 340 trains stop at Visp, and approximately 60,000 passengers use the station, mostly for changing to and from trains calling at Sion.

Rail services to Visp

Standard gauge

The older of the two standard gauge lines serving Visp is the Simplon railway,^[1] which links (Genève-Aéroport, Genève and) Lausanne on Lake Geneva with Brig, at the northern portal of the Simplon Tunnel, via Sion and Visp.

In 2007, Visp became a standard gauge junction station, upon the opening of the Neue Eisenbahn-Alpentransversale or NEAT (pronounced neh-aht; literally: New Alpine Railway Crossing) railway,^[2] connecting (Bern and) Spiez with Brig and the Simplon Tunnel, via the Lötschberg Base Tunnel and Visp.

All of the standard gauge passenger trains stopping at Visp are operated by SBB-CFF-FFS, even though the Lötschberg Base Tunnel is owned by another railway company, BLS AG.

Metre gauge

Visp is also served by the metre gauge Brig-Visp-Zermatt railway (BVZ). Since 1 January 2003 (2003-01-01), the BVZ has been owned and operated by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB), following a merger between the BVZ and the Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO).

Every day, several Glacier Express trains, which are operated at this point by the MGB, call at Visp, on their journey between Zermatt and either St.Moritz or Davos.^[3] The MGB also operates metre gauge regional services from Zermatt to Visp,^[4] and from Visp to Brig and beyond,^[5] at hourly intervals.

The Lötschberg Base Tunnel renovations

Following an architecture competition, a new station building was constructed at Visp to coincide with the opening of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel. The new station building is four storeys high, and features blue mirror glass cladding. In 2007, Visp station won the inaugural FLUX Prize, which is awarded to particularly well designed Swiss transport hubs.

Upon the opening of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, Visp station became a major exchange station for surrounding towns such as Sion, and Martigny and wintersport areas like Saas Fee, Saas Grund und Zermatt, partly because the Base Tunnel emerges shortly before Visp, and bypasses the larger towns.

In the aftermath of the station's reconstruction, the population of Visp grew significantly. Whereas the town had had 6,100 residents in 2006, the population grew by 2008 to 7,100 inhabitants. That is an increase of nearly 10% in only two years. The reason for the increase is the new residential area of Visp-West, which is also a consequence of the station's rebuilding. In only three years, Visp-West should accommodate a further 3,000 residents.

Since the rebuild, there has also been a change in international traffic flows, with trains between Basel and Milan now passing through Visp and Brig via the Lötschberg Base Tunnel, instead of bypassing the town via the Lötschberg railway line (including the old Lötschberg Tunnel) and Brig.

Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn services

Glacier express - several trains daily
Regional services - 1tph

Preceding station	Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn	Following station
Zermatt Terminus	Glacier Express Swiss timetable 144	Brig toward St. Moritz/Davos Platz
Stalden-Saas toward Zermatt	Regional services Swiss timetable 140	Brig Terminus
Terminus	Regional services Swiss timetable 142	Brig toward Göschenen

Feature image

References

↑ Swiss timetable 100.
↑ Swiss timetable 300.
↑ Swiss timetable 144.
↑ Swiss timetable 140.
↑ Swiss timetables 140 and 142.

Moser, Beat; Börret, Ralph; Küstner, Thomas (2005). Glacier Express: Von St. Moritz nach Zermatt. Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany: Eisenbahn-Journal (Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH). ISBN 3-89610-057-2. (German)
Moser, Beat; Jossi, Urs (2006). MGB Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn 1. Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany: Eisenbahn-Journal (Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH). ISBN 3-89610-157-9. (German)
"Official timetable of Switzerland". Bundesamt für Verkehr. (English)

External links

Swiss Federal Railways (English)
Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (German)
Official timetable of Switzerland (English)

Swiss Federal Railways Lötschberg railway line

Bern - Frutigen	Bern Wankdorf Ostermundigen Gümligen Münsingen Wichtrach Uttigen Thun Spiez Mülenen Reichenbach im Kandertal Frutigen —

Frutigen - Brig via Lötschberg Base Tunnel	— Frutigen (Lötschberg Base Tunnel) Visp Brig (>>Italy)

Frutigen - Brig via Lötschberg Tunnel	— Frutigen Kandersteg (Lötschberg Tunnel) Goppenstein Hohtenn Ausserberg Eggerberg Lalden Brig (>>Italy)

Template:Lötschberg Base Tunnel Template:BVZ Zermatt-Bahn Template:Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn

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