Tour de Trams Switzerland - Basel I. (original) (raw)

Tour de Trams Switzerland - Basel I.

Basel (Basle) - tram paradise
Thanks to Guido Studer for his comments!

Basel is one of the "toughest" tramplaces I've ever visited. Judging from other people's pictures I already knew that this 166,000-inhabitant town would be special, but it was even more special than I thought! I'm from Budapest, so I should know what a heavy-duty tram system looks like, but that fact that so much tram-life is being concentrated in such a delicate, and relatively small place, came as a surprise. Of course the city itself - located near the border to Germany and France - is very interesting per se, but on this page I'll focus on just the trams.

Is there a better way to start a tram webpage, than with a classic D�WAG articulated car? This car belongs to one of the two tram operators, BLT (Baselland Transport AG), which runs three tram routes:10, 11 and 17. Normally route 2 is operated by the other tram company, BVB (Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe), but they were facing car shortage due to the temporary withdrawal of the Combino low-floor cars. That's why we see the charateristic yellow-orrange livery of BLT...

... instead of BVB's green one. BVB operates routes 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 14, 15, 16 and also number 14, which belongs to BLT officially. The vehicle on the picture is another D�WAG articulated car, towing a 4-axle trailer. The location is the square in front of the SBB central station.

A Schindler-made Be 4/6S, built in 1988, with a low-floor middle piece added later.

A similar type (Be 4/8) used by the BLT.

Not all cars have received a low-floor middle part: as you can see, the second car in the train is shorter.

One thing's for sure: in Basel they couple pretty much everthing with everything! The second vehicle in this BLT train is a 6-axle Schindler articulated car. AFAIK, this type is only used as a trailing car nowadays.

A classic D�WAG car being used as a trailing car.

4-axle trailer in BLT-livery. Location:_Margarethenstrasse_-Viaduktstrasse/Centralbahnstrasse.

D�WAG 6-axle articulated car with a 4-axle trailer in BVB's green color-scheme.

D�WAG double-set at Schiffl�nde.

BLT tram with the SBB station in the background.

The low-floor middle part of this type.

While these cars look like as if they were the same type...

.. they're not! The one to the left is a Be 4/8 with a low-floor middle piece, the other train consist of a 4-axle Be 4/4 motorcar with two 4-axle trailers.