Upper Rhine Railway

Upper Rhine Railway
Overview
Native name	Hochrheinbahn
Locale	Baden-Württemberg, Germany and Switzerland
Termini	Basel Bad Bf Kreuzlingen Hafen
Line number	730 (Germany) 763 (Switzerland)
Technical
Line length	144.3 km (89.7 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route number	4000
Route map Rhine Valley Railway from Mannheim 270.7 Basel Badischer stationS 6 Basel Trams Basel Link Line to Basel SBB Wiesen Valley Railway to Zell im Wiesental 273.2 Swiss–German border 273.9 Grenzacher Horn 275.6 Grenzach 278.0 Wyhlen 281.8 Herten (Baden) 285.2 Rheinfelden (Baden) 288.8 Beuggen 293.6 Schwörstadt 297.1 Wehr-Brennet Wehra Valley Railway from Schopfheim 302.4 Bad Säckingen 307.9 Murg (Baden) 311.2 Laufenburg (Baden) Rappenstein Tunnel 337 m 312.5 Laufenburg (Baden) Ost 317.9 Albbruck 321.1 Dogern 325.4 Waldshutterminus S41 (Zürich) to Koblenz AG Aarberg Tunnel 352 m 331.1 Tiengen (Hochrhein) Lauchringen West 335.1 Lauchringen Wutach Valley Railway 341.1 Grießen 345.6 Erzingen 345.8 German-Swiss border) 346.2 Trasadingen 348.9 Wilchingen-Hallau 351.5 Neunkirch 357.8 Beringen Bad. Bf 361.6 Neuhausen Bad Bf Charlottenfels Tunnel 286 m Rheinfall line from Winterthur and Eglisau-Neuhausen line from Bülach 364.4 Schaffhausenterminus S33 Seelinie to Stein am Rhein Herblingen Tunnel 530 m 367.9 Herblingen 373.0 Thayngenterminus S16 374.7 Swiss–German border 375.6 Bietingen 378.5 Gottmadingen 384.1 Black Forest Railway from Offenburg and Gäu Railway from Stuttgart 384.1 Singenterminus S22 to Etzwilen (CH) (2003 closed) 384.1 Singen industrial estate 390.8 Böhringen-Rickelshausen 394,2 Radolfzell Hegau-Ablach Valley Railway to Mengen 397.4 Markelfingen 403.1 Allensbach 405.6 Hegne 408.4 Reichenau (Baden) 410.2 Konstanz-Wollmatingen Konstanz-Fürstenberg 412.3 Konstanz-Petershausen 413.5 Rhine Bridge, Konstanz 414.3 Konstanz 414.8 German–Swiss border) 414.9 Kreuzlingen to Schaffhausen and Weinfelden 415.0 Kreuzlingen Hafen to Romanshorn Source: German railway atlas[1]

The Upper Rhine Railway (German: Hochrheinbahn) is the Deutsche Bahn railway line from Basel to Singen. It was built by the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways as part of the Baden Mainline which followed the Rhine upstream from Mannheim to Constance (Konstanz).

Whilst, with the exception of Schaffhausen station, the line is owned and operated throughout by Deutsche Bahn, it passes through Swiss territory within the city of Basel, and whilst crossing the canton of Schaffhausen between Erzingen and Bietingen. Schaffhausen station is jointly owned and run by Deutsche Bahn and the Swiss Federal Railways.

History

Basel Badischer station

Singen station

The Upper Rhine Railway was opened on 4 February 1856 from Basel Badischer station to Bad Säckingen and extended to Waldshut on 30 October 1856. Construction then stopped for a while, but on 15 June 1863, the whole line to Constance was completed. Meanwhile, the Turgi–Koblenz–Waldshut railway was opened on 18 August 1859, connecting to the Swiss railway network across the Rhine at Koblenz.

It is noteworthy that the whole line—including the section on Swiss territory—was owned under treaty by Baden State Railways and still belongs to Deutsche Bahn. The 1852 treaty allows Switzerland to reclaim ownership of the section on Swiss territory on five year’s notice. Although this possibility was discussed after the First World War, it was never implemented. In the Second World War, cross-border traffic was severely limited and military traffic did not pass through Switzerland. In 1944/45, four pairs of passenger services each day ran all the way between Basel Bad station and Singen. In the timetable, however, it was expressly stated: "transit through the Canton of Schaffhausen only permitted with passport with exemption (visa)". Between 8 June 1945 and 1 August 1953 the German railway infrastructure in Switzerland was managed by a trust authority established by the Swiss Federal Council.

Since 1987, most of the route has been double-tracked; only the section between Waldshut and Beringen is single track. The section between Laufenburg and Murg was duplicated a few years ago. The line is electrified only between Schaffhausen and Constance.

The state of Baden-Württemberg and the Canton of Schaffhausen have been asked to fund electrification of the remaining non-electrified route between Basel Bad station and Schaffhausen. At present, however, electrification of the section between Schaffhausen and Erzingen first is being examined.

Operations

The line is 143 kilometres (89 mi) long and standard gauge. The line between Basel and Schaffhausen is not electrified, whilst the rest of the line is electrified at 15 kV  16 ²⁄₃ Hz AC supplied by overhead line.

While up to the 1990s, express services ran from Basel as well as Freiburg to Lindau, with some continuing to Munich, the route is today served by Interregio-Express trains on the Basel–Singen and Basel–Ulm routes. A Regionalbahn service runs between Basel and Waldshut every hour, with most trains continuing to Lauchringen. During peak hour services between Basel and Waldshut run every half-hour. Between Singen and Schaffhausen during the day more than one train an hour operate, including an hourly Zürich S-Bahn line S22 service. Services run between the Black Forest Railway and Singen and Constance.

Passenger traffic on the line is divided into five distinct sections:

• The section between Waldshut and Basel is mainly used by commuters in the industrial conurbation of Basel.
• The section between Erzingen and Waldshut has relatively low passenger traffic.
• The section of the line in the Canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland, has its own services operated by the Swiss Federal Railways . It is planned to introduce services operating at half-hourly intervals. To make this possible, the Erzingen–Beringen section will be duplicated and five level crossings will be replaced by underpasses by 2013. It is also planned to electrify the line between Schaffhausen and Erzingen.
• The section between Schaffhausen and Singen, which was electrified in 1989 and connects the Gäu Railway and the Swiss rail network and carries significant long-distance passenger and freight traffic.
• On the section between Singen and Constance, local services are operated by the German subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways, while InterRegio Express services connect with Karlsruhe. Constance station is on the Swiss border.

Notes

1. Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland (German railway atlas). Schweers + Wall. 2009. ISBN 978-3-89494-139-0.

References

• Gerber, Rainer (1981). 125 Jahre Basel-Waldshut: Jubiläum der Eisenbahn am Hochrhein, 1981 (in German). Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag.
• Scharf, Hans Wolfgang (1993). Die Eisenbahn am Hochrhein (Series: Südwestdeutsche Eisenbahngeschichte) (in German). 1: Von Basel zum Bodensee 1840–1939. Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag.
• Scharf, Hans Wolfgang (1993). Die Eisenbahn am Hochrhein (Series: Südwestdeutsche Eisenbahngeschichte) (in German). 2: Von Basel zum Bodensee 1939–1992. Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag.

External links

• http://suedbadenbahn.de/_Hochrheinbahn/badischebahnfr.html
• Images of the tunnel entrances