Basel Badischer Bahnhof

Basel Bad Bf Basel Badischer Bahnhof
Bf
General information
Other names	Basel Badischer Bahnhof
Location	Schwarzwaldallee 200 CH-4016 Basel Basel, Basel-Stadt operation as if in Baden-Württemberg Switzerland
Coordinates
Owned by	Bundeseisenbahnvermögen (since 1994); Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway (until 1920), Deutsche Reichsbahn (1920-1949), Deutsche Bundesbahn (1949-1993)
Operated by	DB Station&Service
Line(s)	High Rhine Railway (KBS 730) Rhine Valley Railway (KBS 702) Wiese Valley Railway (KBS 735) Basel connecting line
Platforms	5 side platforms
Tracks	10
Train operators	DB Fernverkehr DB Regio Baden-Württemberg ÖBB SBB GmbH
Other information
Station code	-
DS100 code	RB
IBNR	8000026
Category	-
Fare zone	TNW: 10 RVL: 8
History
Opened	19 February 1855 (1855-02-19)
Electrified	13 September 1913 (1913-09-13) when the present edifice opened
Previous names	1935-1948 Basel Deutsche Reichsbahn or Basel DRB
Services
Location Basel Bad Bf Location within Switzerland

Basel Badischer Bahnhof (literally "Basel Baden Railway station", the name referring to the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways, which built the station) is a railway station situated in the Swiss city of Basel. The station is situated on Swiss soil, but is operated by the German railway company Deutsche Bahn. A customs border is situated in the passenger tunnel between the tracks and the station hall. It is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The station is served by three lines of the tri-national Regio S-Bahn Basel, and ICE and EC/IC lines to and from Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and other cities in Germany.

The station is the smaller of the two largest railway stations in Basel, the other being Basel SBB, which is operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS).

History

In March 1838, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways started working on a railway line from Mannheim via Heidelberg, Karlsruhe and Freiburg im Breisgau. This line was called Badische Hauptbahn (Baden Main Line) or Rheintalbahn (Rhine Valley Line). A Swiss railway commission desired a continuation of the line into Basel and contacted the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1842.

In January 1851, the Rheintalbahn line reached the village of Haltingen, close to the Swiss border. Since the two governments had not agreed about how to build the station in Basel yet, the passengers were transported across the border with hackney carriages.

Finally, on July 27, 1852, a treaty became effective between the government of Baden and the Swiss Confederation. This treaty is still effective today. The start of construction was further delayed, however, by the Swiss insisting on a terminal station and the Badische Staatseisenbahnen insisting on a through station in favour of the planned extension of the line towards Waldshut.

Badischer Bahnhof, 1862

The first Baden Railway station of Basel was built as a through station at nowaday's Messeplatz square about 800 meters west of today's one. The line from Haltingen to Basel was opened on February 19, 1855, with a temporary wooden station building. A further line to Konstanz in Baden was connected to the southern end of the station in 1856, and by April 10, 1859, Switzerland and Baden had finally agreed to build a permanent station, of which the construction started in May. The street entrances of the station building opened to nowaday's Riehenring street. In 1875, the communication railroad to Basel Swiss station was opened, leaving the Baden station together with the railway to Konstanz.

The increase of railway traffic in the beginning of 20th century afforded larger facilities. To get space for the urban development of Kleinbasel, the government of Basel insisted on a new station on a new site. It was chosen straight north northwest of the railway bridge across the Rhine. The station was moved to its current location between 1906 and 1913.

Special customs territory

Basel Badischer Bahnhof

The Badischer Bahnhof is part of Swiss territory, but due to the 1852 treaty between the Swiss Confederation and the state of Baden (one of the predecessors of today's Germany), the largest part of it (the platforms and the parts of the passenger tunnel that lead to the German/Swiss checkpoint) forms within Switzerland its special territory which is an enclave of European Union Customs Union territory surrounded completely by the territory of Liechtenstein–Switzerland customs union, serving exclusively trains operated by German rail operators, primarily Deutsche Bahn. The shops in the station hall, however, are located in Switzerland, and the Swiss franc is used as the official currency there (although the euro is universally accepted).

Customs are located in a tunnel between the platforms and the station hall; international trains which continue to Basel SBB can have on-board customs checks. Systematic passport controls were abolished when Switzerland joined the Schengen Area in 2008.

Layout

Basel Badischer Bahnhof has five side platforms serving ten tracks. The platforms are reached from a passenger tunnel leading from the main station building.

Services

As of the December 2020 timetable change, the following services stop at Basel Badischer Bahnhof:

Long distance services

Line	Route		Frequency
ICE 12	(Chur – Zürich –)	Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Mannheim – Frankfurt – Braunschweig – Berlin Ostbahnhof	120 min
	(Interlaken Ost – Bern –)
ICE 20	(Chur – Zürich –) Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Freiburg – Karlsruhe – Mannheim –	Frankfurt – Göttingen – Hannover – Hamburg (– Kiel)	120 min
		Vaihingen – Stuttgart	single service
ICE 43	Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Offenburg – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Frankfurt Airport – Köln (– Amsterdam)		120 min
ECE 85	Milano – Bern – Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Ringsheim/Europa-Park – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Frankfurt		single service
IC 24	Zürich – Freiburg – Karlsruhe – Frankfurt Süd – Berlin Ostbahnhof		single service
IC 26	Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Offenburg – Karlsruhe – Frankfurt		single service towards Basel
IC 60	Baden-Kurier:Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Offenburg – Karlsruhe – Bruchsal – Stuttgart – Ulm – Augsburg – München		single service
EC 30	Interlaken Ost/Zürich – Basel Bad Bf – Freiburg – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Koblenz – Düsseldorf – Osnabrück – Bremen – Hamburg-Altona		individual services
Nightjet Amsterdam – Zürich	Zürich – Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Offenburg – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Frankfurt Airport – Köln – Amsterdam		single service
Nightjet Berlin – Zürich	Zürich – Basel Bad Bf – Freiburg – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Frankfurt – Braunschweig – Berlin		single service
Nightjet Hamburg – Zürich	Zürich – Basel Bad Bf – Freiburg – Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Frankfurt – Hannover – Bremen – Hamburg-Altona		single service

Regional services

Connection	Line	Frequency	Operator
IRE 3	Basel Bad Bf – Bad Säckingen – Schaffhausen – Überlingen – Friedrichshafen Hafen	60 min	DB Regio Baden-Württemberg
RE 3	Basel Bad Bf – Bad Säckingen – Schaffhausen – Singen	single service
RE 7	(Basel SBB -) Basel Bad Bf – Weil am Rhein – Müllheim – Freiburg – Emmendingen – Herbolzheim – Lahr – Offenburg – Baden-Baden – Karlsruhe	60 min
RE 27	Basel Bad Bf – Weil am Rhein – Müllheim – Freiburg	single service Sa, Su
RB 3	Basel Bad Bf – Bad Säckingen – Schaffhausen – Singen – Überlingen – Friedrichshafen Stadt	individual services
RB 27	(Basel SBB -) Basel Bad Bf – Weil am Rhein – Müllheim – Freiburg – Lahr – Offenburg	60 min
RB 35	Basel Bad Bf – Laufenburg – Waldshut – Lauchringen (– Erzingen)	30 min
S 6	Basel SBB – Basel Bad Bf – Lörrach – Schopfheim – Zell (Wiesental)	30 min	SBB

External links

• Media related to Basel Badischer Bahnhof at Wikimedia Commons
• Basel Badischer Bahnhof – SBB
• Station layout (PDF)