The Basel–Aesch railway line is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from Aesch to the border of

Basel-Stadt Canton of Basel-Stadt or Basel-City ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of three municipalities with Basel as the capital. It is traditionally considered a " half-canton", the other half being B ...

, near , where it connects with the Basel tram network. The line was built by the in 1907 and is now owned by

Baselland Transport Baselland Transport AG (BLT) is a Swiss public transport operator in the cantons of Basel-Land, Basel-Stadt, Solothurn and in France. The BLT was founded in 1974, and is owned by the Canton of Basel-Land, located to the south of the city. It tra ...

, which operates Line 11 of the Basel tram network over the line.

History

opened a line between Ruchfeld, in

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 Aesch, on 7 December 1907. Trains continued over the Basel tram network and terminated at . The line was electrified from opening at 550 V DC, later increased to

600 V DC This is a list of the power supply systems that are, or have been, used for railway electrification. Note that the voltages are nominal and vary depending on load and distance from the substation. , many trams and trains use on-board solid-state ...

. In 1974, Trambahn Basel-Aesch merged with three other companies to form

, which continues to own and operate the line.

Route

The line begins from a turning loop on the Haupstrasse, in Aesch. 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 ...

station at is on the other side of the

Birs The Birs (French: ''Birse'') is a long river in Switzerland that flows through the Jura region and ends as a tributary to the Rhine between Basel and Birsfelden. It is the most important river of the Swiss Jura. Course The Birs has its sour ...

river, to the east. The line runs north-south, through the municipalities of Reinach and

Münchenstein Münchenstein (Swiss German: ''Minggestai'') is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. Historical records Münchenstein is first mentioned in 1196 as ''Kekingen''. In 1270, it was mentione ...

. Near Dreispitz, at the northern end of the line, it joins with the

Basel–Dornach railway line The Basel–Dornach railway line is a railway line in Switzerland. It runs from to the border of Basel-Stadt, near , where it connects with the Basel tram network. The line was built by the in 1902 and is now owned by Baselland Transport, wh ...

. The two lines then connect with the tracks of the Basel tram network.

Operation

Baselland Transport operates the line as a tramway, designated as Line 11 of the Basel tram network. Two trams operate every fifteen minutes from Aesch to Saint-Louis via . This is supplemented by the E11 line, which provides weekday rush-hour service to and from Reinach and the Basel city center.

Notes

References

* Railway lines in Switzerland Railway lines opened in 1907 1907 establishments in Switzerland Baselland Transport lines Metre-gauge railways in Switzerland 600 V DC railway electrification {{DEFAULTSORT:Basel-Aesch railway line