Visp railway station

The older of the two standard gauge lines serving Visp is the Simplon Railway, which links ({{rws|Geneva Airport}}, Geneva and) {{rws|Lausanne}} on Lake Geneva with {{rws|Brig}}, at the northern portal of the Simplon Tunnel, via {{rws|Sion|Switzerland}}.{{cite web | title=Lausanne - Sion - Brig (RER Vaud, Lignes R1, R2, R3, R4) | url=https://www.oev-info.ch/sites/default/files/fap/2025/pdf/100.pdf | date=1 November 2024 | language=fr,de | access-date=5 February 2025 | publisher=öv-info.ch}}

In 2007, Visp became a standard gauge junction station, upon the opening of the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA), connecting ({{rws|Bern}} and) Spiez with Brig and the Simplon Tunnel, via the Lötschberg Base Tunnel.{{cite web | title=Bern - Thun - Spiez - Visp - Brig | url=https://www.oev-info.ch/sites/default/files/fap/2025/pdf/300.pdf | date=19 September 2024 | language=de | access-date=5 February 2025 | publisher=öv-info.ch}}

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.

Visp is also served by the metre gauge Brig-Visp-Zermatt railway (BVZ). Since {{Start date|2003|01|01|df=y}}, 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,{{cite web | title=Brig - Visp - Zermatt | url=https://www.oev-info.ch/sites/default/files/fap/2025/pdf/140.pdf | date=15 October 2024 | language=de | access-date=5 February 2025 | publisher=öv-info.ch}} and from Visp to Brig and beyond,{{cite web | title=Visp - Brig - Oberwald - Andermatt - Göschenen | url=https://www.oev-info.ch/sites/default/files/fap/2025/pdf/142.pdf | date=15 October 2024 | language=de | access-date=5 February 2025 | publisher=öv-info.ch}} at hourly intervals.

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.

{{wide image|Visp-Station.jpg|600px|Mountains reflected in the station building}}

{{Portal|Trains|Architecture|Switzerland}}

• SBB CFF FFS
• Lötschberg Base Tunnel
• Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn
• Brig–Visp–Zermatt railway

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | last1 = Moser | first1 = Beat | last2 = Börret | first2 = Ralph | last3 = Küstner | first3 = Thomas | title = Glacier Express: Von St. Moritz nach Zermatt | publisher = Eisenbahn-Journal (Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH) | year = 2005 | location = Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany | isbn = 3-89610-057-2|language=de}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Moser | first1 = Beat | last2 = Jossi | first2 = Urs | title = MGB Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn | volume = 1 | publisher = Eisenbahn-Journal (Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH) | year = 2006 | location = Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany | isbn = 3-89610-157-9|language=de}}
• {{cite web | url = http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/welcome/ | title = Official timetable of Switzerland | publisher = Bundesamt für Verkehr }} {{in lang|en}}

• {{SBB web|1605|visp}}
• [http://plans.trafimage.ch/visp#?lang=en Interactive station plan (Visp)]
• [https://www.sbb.ch/en Swiss Federal Railways]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130123113456/http://www.matterhorngotthardbahn.ch/de/Pages/default.aspx Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn] {{in lang|de}}
• [http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/welcome/ Official timetable of Switzerland]

{{Lötschberg railway line}}

Category:Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn stations

Category:Railway stations in the canton of Valais

Category:Swiss Federal Railways stations