Basel SBB railway station (, or in earlier times ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Schweizer Bahnhof'') is the central

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the city of

Basel, Switzerland Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zurich and Geneva), with ...

. Opened in 1854, and completely rebuilt in 1900–1907, it is Europe's busiest international border station. Basel SBB is owned by the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

(SBB CFF FFS). The other major railway station is

Basel Badischer Bahnhof Basel Badischer Bahnhof (Basel Baden Railway station; abbreviated ''Basel Bad'') is a railway station in the Swiss city of Basel 2 km south of the Germany–Switzerland border. Despite its location, its land is an enclave of the EU Customs Unio ...

, operated by the German railway company

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

, on the north side of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

from the city centre. Trains operated by SBB CFF FFS use Basel SBB to link Basel with destinations within Switzerland and Italy, as do

Intercity-Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this Train categories in Europe, category) is a high-speed rail in Germany, high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland an ...

(ICE) trains to and from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Zürich and Interlaken, most

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

trains to and from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and some regional trains to and from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. Additionally, the station is served by three lines of the

Basel S-Bahn The Basel S-Bahn (, ) has provided an S-Bahn-style rail service connecting the Basel metropolitan area since 1997 in Switzerland, Germany and France. It consists of eight suburban train lines, including four that operate across borders. The S-Ba ...

. The 1907

neo-baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, ...

is a heritage site of national significance. It also contains Bâle SNCF (shown in SBB CFF FFS online timetables as Basel SBB Gl. 30–35, and in other online timetables as Basel SNCF), which is located through a

border crossing Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...

and is used by other trains to and from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Directly outside the station building is the Centralbahnplatz, which is a major hub of the Basel tramway network, and the Basel terminus of a direct bus service to the

EuroAirport EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg IATA airport 3-letter codes for the French area, the Swiss area, and the metropolitan area is an international airport in the administrative commune of Saint-Louis, in the French Alsace part of the Trination ...

Location

The station area is situated at the southern side of the city centre, in an elongated area between the

Zoological Garden A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden ...

to the west and the to the east. The borders of four of Basel's districts come together at the station area. However, the area is, according to the Statistical Office, divided between only two districts: the station itself is located in , while most of the tracks on the eastern side of the station (including the

goods station A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

), along with the Centralbahnplatz in front of the station (including the BIS Tower), are attributed to the . The Elisabethenanlage in front of the Centralbahnplatz belongs to , while the opposite Basel SNCF is part of the district.

History

Beginnings

The first railway to reach Basel, the (StB; Strasbourg Basel Railway), arrived there in 1844. The following year, 1845, the ''Elsässerbahn'' (Alsatian Railway) built the first station in the Basel metropolitan area, within the city walls. Basel thereby became the first Swiss city to be connected to the new means of transport. After the arrival of the railway, there was a passionate debate in Basel about the pros and cons of the railway and its possible continuation towards

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

and from there through the Gotthard towards Italy. Meanwhile, the '' Rheintalbahn'' from

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

and

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

also approached Basel from the north; in 1851 it reached

Haltingen Weil am Rhein (, ; High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the tripoint of Switzerland, France, and Germany. It is the most southwesterly town in Germany and a subu ...

(a district of

Weil am Rhein Weil am Rhein (, ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the tripoint of Switzerland, France, and Germany. It is the most southwesterly tow ...

), on the Swiss border. In 1853, the ''

Schweizerische Centralbahn The Swiss Central Railway (''Schweizerische Centralbahn''; SCB or S.C.B.) was one of the five major private railway companies of Switzerland. The SCB with a track length of 332 kilometres was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in ...

'' railway company (SCB) was founded in Basel. Its purpose was the establishment of a link between the city of Basel and the economic centres of the Mittelland cantons, and perhaps even also the expansion of the transport corridor from

to the Gotthard. The Viaduktstrasse in Basel – including the , which is adjacent to the Zoo Basel parking lot – was also the formation of the ''Elsässerbahn'' until 1902. Today, the viaduct serves tram lines 1 and 8, as well as motor vehicle traffic, and a plaque on the bridge railing recalls its earlier role as a rail bridge.

Provisional station

In 1854, construction on the future Hauenstein railway line began. Right up until the opening of the first section of the route from Basel to Liestal, the controversial question of the site and design of the Basel railway station remained unresolved. However, to accommodate the commencement of railway operations on 19 December 1854, the ''Centralbahn'' built a simple temporary timber structure, according to plans developed by chief architect Ludwig Maring. By the opening day, all of the temporary station buildings had been completed, including a timber

train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

. This modest provisional station, equipped with makeshift facilities, was made up of individual detached buildings and was used only for just under six years. The station site consisted of the

, a

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before, after, and during loading to and unloading from a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, althou ...

, a carriage and

locomotive shed A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

and a

turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

at the

railhead {{Short pages monitor