Virtual Railfan Tour of Switzerland - Friday - Basel Trams
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A seven banger at the No. 14 route terminus
A Basel heritage tram at the SBB station
There is an extensive tram network throughout Basel. Many of the Basel tram routes in the central core run through narrow winding streets with a changing grade. To accommodate these restrictions, trams tend to be narrow with many sections to allow the long trams to wind through the medieval streets. The Siemens Combinos have seven articulated sections, These 7 banger trams are the longest in Basel. The Basel network extends into Germany and France. The system has also recently been extended to Liestal to cover the Waldenburgrbahn which is being converted and re-equipped to the meter gauge.
Two tram operators in Basel
1) Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) owned by canton of Basel-Stadt. Routes in Basel and crosses into Germany. BVB uses a green livery.
Be 6/8 Combino built by Siemens in 2000 - 7 sections per tram Be 4/4 single cars Swiss Standard built by Swiss Tram Company in 1960s - 1980s - 1 section per tram Be 4/6 built by Duwag in 1967 - 2 sections per tram Be 4/6 FlexityBasel built by Bombardier 5 section per tram Be 6/8 FlexityBasel built by Bombardier 7 section per tram B4 trailers built by FFA in the 1960s
2) Baselland Transport (BLT) is owned by canton of Baselland. Routes are in Basel and cross into France. It also operates the Waldenburgerbahn railway. BLT uses a bright yellow livery.
Be 6/10 Tango built by Stadler in 2009 - 6 sections per tram Be 4/8 built by Duwag in 1990 - 3 section per tram Be 4/6 Swiss Standard built by Swiss Tram Company in 2000s - 2 sections per tram Be 4/8 Swiss Standard built by Swiss Tram Company in 2000s - 3 sections per tram
The tram station outside the SBB station can get pretty busy at times
Some of the trackwork is complex
BVB Class B4 trailer in the narrow streets of Basel
BVB Be 6/8 Siemens Combino at the Basel SBB tram station
BVB Be 4/4 at Basel SBB
BLT Be 4/6 at the Basel SBB station
BLT 6/10 Tango
Basel trams are quite narrow to accommodate the medieval streets
BLT and BVB Swiss Standard trams passing each other near an outdoor cafe offering good views of the passing rail action
BLT Tango navigating the streets.
BVB Be 6/8 Combino at Marketplatz
Trams connect the SBB station with the historic Rathaus in the medieval Marketplatz
Historic Marketplatz
What more could one want? Wine, sausage - and trams!
BVB line passes through the Messeplatz (Basel Expostion Centre) with its unusual architecture.
Basel Trams in Snow. BVB Be 4/4 working its way up a hill on a snowy day
Tthere are many video clips on YouTube. Here are a couple
Zurich Hauptbahnhof Paul has prepared some extensive notes and photos of the Zurich Hauptbahnhof. This will be in several parts. The busiest station in Switzerland is Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich HB) which is used primarily by the SBB. It has 26 tracks serving almost 3000 trains daily and it is one of the busiest stations in the world. It was built in the 1870s and is a main shopping destination as well as a transport hub. There are three levels for platforms and the "Shopville" shopping plaza. The river Sihl river passes right through the station with platforms passing above and below the river. This shows the general layout of the station with the surrounding tram tracks shown in purple Tracks 3 to 18 are terminal tracks located at ground level, served by two side platforms and seven island platforms. These are used by long-distance trains from throughout Switzerland, and by international trains. Tracks 21 and 22 are underground terminal tracks, served by a sing...
This video, by Noel Wyler, shows what we have just missed. Last Saturday (14 September) the Oensingen Balsthal Railway organized an event to commemorate 60 years of the Re 4/4 locomotives. They brought together 24 of them and ran them as one train. Paul and I flew home on KLM from Schiphol Airport. We took a train from Den Haag directly to the airport. The trip back was marred by a couple with a young boy who was obviously teething. He cried almost continuously for the full six hours. I found I could tune him out when I dug deep into the KLM sound system and found a treasure trove of classical music. Bach violin concertos, Mozart piano concerto No. 23, Beethoven symphonies, Schuman etc. We survived the stupidities at the entrance of the Montreal airport and caught the KLM bus back to Ottawa where we arrived precisely on time. A good ending to a wonderful, tremendous, trip
This is the only picture I took today - Hamburg Hauptbahnhof We took Air France from Ottawa to Paris with a connection to Hamburg. There was great chaos in the security section at Ottawa airport. One of my bags was diverted onto the intense search section and it was evident that with the speed they were going it would take a long time. I found a supervisor who explained and facetiously offered to get me a chair to sit on while I waited - which I facetiously accepted. After this it seems the whole process was speeded up and my bag was quickly released from the security prison. This made us late getting to the gate but a quick word with one of the staff at the gate in which I explained how my leg could be very painful if I had to stand up for some time and we finished up being in the first group to get on the aircraft after the wheelchairs. At Paris we had a long wait for our connection to Hamburg and this time one of the security staff came over and invited Paul and I to be first on the...
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