European Railroad Discussion > 90 minutes at Basel Bad Bhf

There are two main stations in Basel, Switzerland. The most important is Basel SBB Bhf, from where you ride to anywhere else in Switzerland, and international services to Paris, and cities in Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic. But on the east side of town is another important station, Basel Bad Bhf, which although in Switzerland is run by Deutsch Bahn. It's the first stop in Switzerland for long distance DB services as well as countless local services provided by both DB and SBB for the state of Baden-Württemburg. So as you exit the station there's a customs post!

Anyway, it's also on one of the busiest freight arteries in Europe, between Northern and Southern Europe, via either the Lotschberg/Simplon or Gotthard routes. This is just a selection of the trains I saw in about 90 minutes this morning. Many more I photographed with my SLR or just watched, it was difficult to drag myself away. I would have liked to have kept the full length video showing the full length of the trains, but had to edit to ensure it was within the limits imposed by Trainorders.

Quite an extraordinary morning.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/24 12:11 by 86235.

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Interesting.  Over the past 65 years I have been to, and through, Basel a few times.  Was never aware of this situation.  Will go research maps now to better understand location, etc.  Thanks for entertaining videos.
jb

boejoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting.  Over the past 65 years I have been
> to, and through, Basel a few times.  Was never
> aware of this situation.  Will go research maps
> now to better understand location, etc.  Thanks
> for entertaining videos.
> jb

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

In 1988 I took my mum to Switzerland to ride the Glacier Express. We arrived in Basel on an overnight train from Calais, by way of Lille and Metz, long since discontinued. We had to change as the train was going on somewhere, but not to Zurich, which was our destination. So mum and I were put out at about 5 a.m. at Basel SBB. But in those days there was both customs and passport control as Basel SBB marked the French / Swiss border. It still does, but there's no sign of any border control as there was in 1988.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/24 14:44 by 86235.

A most interesting video. How long were those trains in number of cars? Also one of the trains was made up of cars that to me looked like a box car with a rounded roof. However I see no sliding doors on the sides nor signs of hopper outlets on the bottom. Do you know what they are and how they are loaded?
Regards,
Charlie

Nick - yes looks good and busy!  Good to know about for next Switzerland visit.

1019X Wrote:
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> A most interesting video. How long were those
> trains in number of cars? Also one of the trains
> was made up of cars that to me looked like a box
> car with a rounded roof. However I see no sliding
> doors on the sides nor signs of hopper outlets on
> the bottom. Do you know what they are and how they
> are loaded?

Those are called sliding wall vans, and are the
European boxcar. Half of the entire sidewall can be
slid over the other half, making for easy loading with
a fork lift. Once one-half is loaded both segments 
slide to the opposite end to expose the half not yet
loaded.

Thanks for the post and the video. It brought back memories for me as well. In 1987 I flew into Frankfurt (Main) and caught a train to Basel, Badischer Bahnhof, and I stayed at a hotel across from the station before catching a train (actually a couple of trains) to Rome. That was something of an adventure, because of a missed connection I ended up on a train that did not go to Rome Termini, but only to Tiburtina. At the last minute I got off  at Tirburtina or I might have ended up in Naples.
I have learned that the the Basel Bad station is actually an enclave of Germany. I don't recall how customs and passport control took place, because at the time the Schengen Convention was not in operation, so border controls were still in operation withi Europe. Passports may have been checked while we were on the train. Today, most of the EU states are part of Schengen, and Switzerland also has joined. 
I did not spend much time in or around the station, but spent the evening I had there walking around the city. It was only my second time in Europe and I was going to make the most of the trip. 

colehour Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have learned that the the Basel Bad station is
> actually an enclave of Germany. I don't recall how
> customs and passport control took place, because
> at the time the Schengen Convention was not in
> operation, so border controls were still in
> operation withi Europe. Passports may have been
> checked while we were on the train. Today, most of
> the EU states are part of Schengen, and
> Switzerland also has joined. 

This is all you see, the customs sign as you walk out of the station. Today Basel Bad Bhf is run by Deutsch Bahn as opposed to SBB and as well as being a stopping point for ICE services terminating in Basel SBB or elsewhere in Switzerland it's also the start point for numerous local / commuter trains which run into Germany and use DB stock, electric and diesel.

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