Europe’s busiest train station with 13 platforms and 150 million passengers

Europe’s busiest train station has 13 platforms and serves over a whopping 150 million passengers every year.

Zürich Hauptbahnhof in Switzerland was included on Conde Nast Traveller’s list of Europe’s most popular train stations.

Travel experts at Bounce analysed 30 stations based on factors such as passenger numbers, platforms, time from the airport and social media posts to create a top ten.

Zürich receives over 154.6 million passengers a year, has 26 tracks and is just nine minutes from the nearest airport.

It is also the largest railway station in Switzerland with services across the country and into neighbouring countries including Germany, Italy, Austria and France.

There are more than 2,900 trains passing through the station every day, with an average of 471,300 passengers. 

The station is busy at all times, with trains running from 5am to 1am during the week. There is also an overnight network on weekends.

People who have visited say that it is “more than a train station”. Reviewers called it a “cool and unique place”, a “beautiful building” and “surely worth the visit”.

The station was originally constructed as the terminus of the Spanisch Brötli Bahn, the first railway built completely within Switzerland.

It was originally opened in 1986 but was rebuilt in both 1871, 1990 and 2014. It now includes a shopping centre with 200s stores, a small chapel and 

Also among Europe’s busiest train stations are Liverpool Street in London, Milano Centrale in Italy and Gare de Lyon in France.

The second busiest station is Gare du Nord in Paris with 292 million passengers a year and Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof with 179.9 million.