The Basel Connecting Line () is a railway line in the Swiss city of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

and connects Basel Baden station on the right bank of the Rhine and Basel SBB station on the left bank. It is located on Swiss territory. Most of the German long-distance trains on the

Rhine Valley Railway The Rhine ( ) is one of the 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 Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Const ...

end at Basel SBB station and run along the Connecting Line. Many

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

trains of

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 ...

(from

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

) and S-Bahn trains of the

SBB GmbH SBB GmbH, also known as SBB Deutschland, is a railway company that operates services in Germany and the Swiss cantons, cantons of Canton of Basel-City, Basel-City and Canton of Schaffhausen, Schaffhausen in Switzerland. It is a subsidiary of Swis ...

(from

Zell Zell may refer to: Places Austria * Zell am See, in Salzburg state * Zell am Ziller, in Tyrol * Zell, Carinthia, in Carinthia * in Upper Austria: ** Bad Zell ** Zell am Moos ** Zell an der Pram ** Zell am Pettenfirst Germany * Zell im Fich ...

) also run over the Connecting Line to Basel SBB.

History

The railway line was authorised by Article 4 of an international agreement of 15 October 1869, concerning the construction and operation of the Gotthard Railway. The building of the Connecting Line was licensed by the Swiss federal government on 14 March 1870. On 3 November 1873 the line was opened, including a one-line bridge over the Rhine. Following an agreement between the then

Swiss Central Railway 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 ...

and the

Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways Grand Duchy of Baden had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische Staatseisenbahnen or G.Bad.St.E.''), which was founded in 1840. At the time when it was integrated into the Deutsche ...

, the Connecting Line was built as a joint line by both companies. The project was exclusively funded by the Central Railway, which became its owner and it is now 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). Since the railway reform, the rail infrastructure is managed exclusively by the SBB. SBB, Deutsche Bahn and many other companies operate on the line. The property boundary is at the 3.537 km chainage mark (at the north head of the Rhine bridge).

Technology

The Basel Connecting Line, including railway Basel Baden station, Basel SBB station and Basel marshalling yard is equipped for Swiss locomotives without special technical equipment and can be used by services from Germany. The line is equipped with the German intermittent cab signalling system (

Punktförmige Zugbeeinflussung PZB or Indusi is an intermittent cab signalling system and train protection system used in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Israel, Serbia, on two lines in Hungary, on the Tyne and Wear Metro in the United Kingdom, UK, and formerly ...

) and the Swiss train protection system (

Integra-Signum Integra-Signum is a Swiss train protection system introduced in 1933. Originally it was called Signum; the name Integra was added later. It transmits data inductively and is simple, robust and reliable also in snow. How it works The locomotives ...

). Trains runs on the right, unlike elsewhere in the SBB network, in order to avoid the need to switch sides at Basel Baden station. The overhead line can be used by trains with both Swiss and German pantographs (maximum lateral deviation of 200 mm). The border between the overhead electrification systems is at the property boundary.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* {{cite book, editor=SBB Cargo, title= Transit Basel: Die Basler Verbindungsbahn - Nadelöhr im europäischen Schienenverkehr , publisher= Christoph Merian Verlag , location= Basel, year= 2004 , ISBN= 3-85616-231-3 , language=de Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1873 Swiss Federal Railways lines Standard-gauge railways in Switzerland