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What you need to know about rail disruption in Basel this spring

If you live in or near Basel, be prepared to put up with many train cancellations and other disruptions as Swiss national railway is ‘carrying out extensive expansion and maintenance work’.

Published: 14 March 2024 15:55 CET
What you need to know about rail disruption in Basel this spring
The west wing of Basel's central train station. Photo: SBB media

“The construction work will lead to train cancellations, changed travel times and connections,” the company, SBB, said on its website.

Not being able to rely on Switzerland’s (usually very reliable) rail system will surely be a headache for commuters living, or transiting through, one of the country’s busiest train stations.

But it may be reassuring to know that the “the aim of these projects is to increase train connections and ensure that train services continue to be safe and punctual,” SBB said.

What exactly is being ‘improved’?

“The expansion projects will enable quarter-hourly service on the S-Bahn between Basel and Liestal and half-hourly service on long-distance services on the Basel–Delémont–Biel/Bienne line by the end of 2025,” SBB said. “At the same time, maintenance projects are carried out to ensure safe and punctual train services.”

In all, a total of around 1.7 billion francs will be invested in the infrastructure in the Basel area for expansion projects. There are also extensive maintenance projects, such as the basic repair of the Hauenstein base tunnel, for 140 million francs.

Which services will be disrupted, and when?

Travelers in the Basel area will be particularly affected on the weekend from March 16th to 18th, 2024.

According to SBB, construction will take place at Basel SBB train station, in Muttenz, in Laufental and in Fricktal. Construction work is also taking place across the border on French and German territory.

Timetable restrictions from March 13th, 2024 in Fricktal

On the Basel–Frick–Brugg AG–Zurich HB route there will be adjustments to the timetable from March 13th to June 24th and from August 11th to November 8th, 2024 due to the renovation of the Mühlebach Bridge.

The InterRegio trains are temporarily canceled between Rheinfelden and Frick, and replacement buses run between Möhlin and Stein-Säckingen instead of the S1.

Basel–Olten: timetable restrictions at night and on weekends

The SBB is completely renovating the Hauenstein Base Tunnel on the Basel–Olten railway line – one of the main axes of Swiss passenger and freight transport.

That’s why the timetable will be adjusted from Sunday to Thursday evening from 10 pm throughout the 2024 timetable year.

From Sunday evening, July 7th, to Monday morning, August 12th, 2024, one of the two tunnel tracks will also be closed. From mid-November, the tunnel will be completely closed for four weekends. The single-track closure and the total closures lead to travel time adjustments, diversions and train cancellations with replacements.

Laufental: timetable restrictions at night and on weekends
 
So that the long-distance trains Basel–Laufen–Delémont–Biel/Bienne can run every half hour in the future, the SBB is expanding the railway line between Grellingen and Duggingen to double track. As a result, the route must be closed on several weekends and nights between January 19th and October 7th, 2024, and replacement buses will run.
 
Where can you find further information about the disruptions?

Through your SBB app, or online at this link, which is updated in real time. 

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LEARN ABOUT SWITZERLAND

COMPARE: Maps reveal the areas of Swiss cities with best access to services

A recent landmark study has placed Paris and Milan as being closer to the goal of being a ‘15 minutes city’ than any other cities worldwide - but how do Swiss cities Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne compare?

Published: 18 September 2024 09:12 CEST
COMPARE: Maps reveal the areas of Swiss cities with best access to services

The study, published in the journal Nature Cities earlier this week, analysed data from over 10,000 cities globally. It assessed how far residents need to walk or cycle to reach essential services including shops, restaurants, education, exercise and healthcare.

The ’15-minute city’ concept, which gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, focuses on enhancing accessibility and sustainability by ensuring that basic services are within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

The online tool allows you to click on an area of the city to see ho accessible services are by bike or by foot.

READ MORE: Paris and Milan judged closest in the world to becoming ’15-minute cities’

The study also introduced an online tool that visualises the distances residents must travel, using a colour scale from dark red (long distances) to blue (short distances).

“A lot of people already live in a 15-minute city,” study co-author Hygor Piaget Monteiro Melo told AFP.

But it depends on where you look within a city, he said, because of the inequality in access to services between the centre and periphery. This in equality can be seen when examining Switzerland’s major cities.

As the maps below show, while some cities in Switzerland are making significant progress toward the 15-minute city goal, others still have considerable work to do.

BASEL (View on page)

Historic Basel has kept much of the shape and size that it has for centuries, with urban spread distributed almost consistently in each direction. This means that public transportation and community services have kept pace with the growth of the city. 

READ MORE: The nine maps you need to see to understand Switzerland

BERN (View on page)

While much of the ‘federal city’ demonstrates excellent mobility for its citizens, recent expansion into the south-west has not kept pace with the development of basic public services, meaning a long walk for those doing their shopping or visiting a doctor. 

GENEVA (View on page)

Geneva’s status as a diplomatic and scientifc capital is reflected in its excellent public transportation and distribution of shops and basic services. Only areas towards the small hamlet of Carouge in the southeast score over 18 minutes on the accessibility scale. 

LAUSANNE (View on page)

 

Lausanne’s growth in recent decades as part of the life sciences focused ‘Health Valley’ has meant that newly-developed urban area to the northeast and northwest are poorly served by public amenities, necessitating long commutes for those shopping or visiting healthcare. 

ZURICH (View on page)

Zurich is Switzerland’s most expensive city, so it’s no surprise that citizens of the city enjoy excellent access to public transport, amenities and shopping. That said, recent expansion to the east and west has led to bands of relative inaccessibility, particularly concentrated around Wettswil am Albis to the west and Fallanden to the east. 

Readers of The Local who are cyclists in Zurich have criticised the city’s lack of infrastructure for cycling such as bike lanes.

READ ALSO: ‘There are no cycle paths’ – How Zurich could improve safety for cyclists?

Earlier this year The Local also reported how Swiss cantons were criticised for dragging their heels in implementing new bike lanes.

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