Visp railway station

Visp
Four-story boxy glass building
The new station building from the street.
General information
LocationBahnhofplatz 2
Visp
Switzerland
Coordinates46°17′38.504″N 7°52′53.274″E / 46.29402889°N 7.88146500°E / 46.29402889; 7.88146500
Elevation650 m (2,130 ft)
Owned bySwiss Federal Railways
Line(s)
Distance
Platforms
7
Tracks
Train operators
Connections
[2][3]
Construction
Parking162
Bicycle facilities277
AccessibleYes
Other information
Station code8501605 (VI)
History
Electrified1 October 1929 (1929-10-01) (BVZ)
Passengers
202325'300 per weekday[4] (BLS, MGB, RegionAlps, SBB)
Rank30 out of 1'159
Services
Preceding station Swiss Federal Railways Following station
Spiez
towards Basel SBB
 EuroCity Brig
towards Milano Centrale
IC 6 Brig
Terminus
Spiez
towards Romanshorn
 IC 8
Sierre/Siders
towards Geneva Airport
 IR 90
Leuk
towards Geneva Airport
Preceding station Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn Following station
Terminus R 43 Eyholz
towards Andermatt
Stalden-Saas
towards Zermatt
 RE 42 Eyholz
towards Fiesch
RE 41 Terminus
Preceding station RegionAlps Following station
Raron
towards Monthey or St-Gingolph
 R91 Brig
Terminus
Preceding station BLS Following station
Terminus RE2 Brig
One-way operation
Location
Map

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.[1]

Visp station is the busiest railway station in Valais.[5]

Every day, about 230 trains stop at Visp,[6] and approximately 25,300 passengers use the station.

Rail services

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Standard gauge

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The older of the two standard gauge lines serving Visp is the Simplon Railway, which links (Geneva Airport, Geneva and) Lausanne on Lake Geneva with Brig, at the northern portal of the Simplon Tunnel, via Sion.[6][7]

In 2007, Visp became a standard gauge junction station, upon the opening of the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA), connecting (Bern and) Spiez with Brig and the Simplon Tunnel, via the Lötschberg Base Tunnel.[6][8]

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

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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).

The MGB also operates metre gauge half-hourly service from Zermatt to Visp,[6][9] and from Visp to Brig and beyond,[6][9][10] at hourly intervals.

The Lötschberg Base Tunnel renovations

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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.

Mountains reflected in the station building

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Eisenbahnatlas Schweiz. Freiburg: EK-Verlag. 2024. pp. 45, 79. ISBN 978-3-8446-6441-6.
  2. ^ "Liniennetz Visp und Umgebung" (PDF) (in German). PostBus Switzerland. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Netzplan Regionalbus Leuk-Visp" (in German). RegionAlps. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Passagierfrequenz (2023)". Visp, Switzerland: SBB CFF FFS. 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2024 – via data.sbb.ch – SBB DATA PORTAL.
  5. ^ "Passagierfrequenz Valais (2023)". SBB CFF FFS. 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024 – via data.sbb.ch – SBB DATA PORTAL.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Abfahrt: Bahnhof Visp" (PDF) (in German). Swiss Federal Railways. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Lausanne - Sion - Brig (RER Vaud, Lignes R1, R2, R3, R4)" (PDF) (in French and German). öv-info.ch. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Bern - Thun - Spiez - Visp - Brig" (PDF) (in German). öv-info.ch. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Brig - Visp - Zermatt" (PDF) (in German). öv-info.ch. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Visp - Brig - Oberwald - Andermatt - Göschenen" (PDF) (in German). öv-info.ch. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2024.

Bibliography

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