The railway from Strasbourg to Basel is a French and Swiss 141.3-kilometre long

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line. It is used for passenger (express, regional and suburban) and freight traffic. The railway was opened in 1840–1844. It was the first railway line to serve Switzerland.

Main stations

Gare de Strasbourg Strasbourg-Ville is the main railway station in the city of Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France. It is the eastern terminus of the Paris-Est–Strasbourg-Ville railway. The current core building, an example of historicist architecture of the Wilhelmi ...

* Gare de Colmar *

Gare de Mulhouse The Gare de Mulhouse-Ville, also known as Gare Centrale, is the main railway station in the city of Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, France. It is the eastern terminus of the Paris-Est–Mulhouse-Ville railway. Station infrastructure The station is a majo ...

* Basel SNCF and

Basel SBB railway station Basel SBB railway station (german: Bahnhof Basel SBB, or in earlier times ''Centralbahnhof'' or ''Schweizer Bahnhof'') is the central railway station in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Opened in 1854, and completely rebuilt in 1900–1907, it is E ...

Line history

The concession for the railway Strasbourg–Basel was granted to the ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle'', founded by the Koechlin brothers, in 1838. The first sections that were opened in 1840 led from Benfeld to Colmar, and from

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...

to Saint-Louis near the Swiss border. In 1841 Koenigshoffen (near Strasbourg) and Benfeld were connected, and Colmar was connected to Mulhouse. Finally in 1844 the sections between Strasbourg and Koenigshoffen, and between Saint-Louis and the Swiss border were opened. With its southern terminus at , it was the first railway line to serve Switzerland. The assets of the ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Strasbourg à Bâle'' were bought by the

Chemins de fer de l'Est The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est (CF de l'Est), often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which ...

in 1854. On June 15, 1860, the line was extended south to Basel Centralbahnhof (now Basel SBB), its present terminus.

Keeping right

The line was, from the start, planned and opened as a double track route, with trains travelling on the right. It had been intended to switch to running the trains on the left side of the double track once the line had been extended and connected with the main Paris-Strasburg line, but this was not done.''De l'exploitation des chemins de fer'' Page 132
François Prosper Jacqmin 1867 After the

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

into

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1870, the region's railways were integrated into the German rail network, where travelling on the right-hand track of any double track was already standard procedure, so there was no longer any pressure for railways to switch to the French convention of running trains on the lefthand track. In 1919 and again in 1945 the region reverted to French control, but on the Strasburg-Basel line, as in the rest of Alsace where twin tracks are involved, trains continue to travel on the right.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strasbourg-Basel railway Strasbourg - Basel Cross-border railway lines in France Cross-border railway lines in Switzerland France–Switzerland border Railway lines opened in 1844