|
|
 |
|
|
At the heart of Europe
|
|
|
Ever since the construction of Basel's first Rhine bridge in the 13th century, Basel has been at the crossroads of major trade routes. Today it is busy streams of people and goods which come together and are linked here by water, by air and by road or rail.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Central location and excellent transport infrastructure
Basel is a central hub for transport routes. The city is the gateway to Switzerland for transit routes connecting northern and central Europe with the Alpine region and Italy. This central position in the European transport network is of vital importance for Basel as a business location.
Basel has an excellent transport infrastructure. EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, which is only 3 km beyond the city limits, is the regional airport for the entire trinational region. Collectively, the Rhine harbours in Basel represent one of the most important inland harbours in Europe. At the same time, the Basel region is also a key hub linking the French, Swiss and German railway networks. International express trains, intercity services and regional urban routes come together here, offering countless connections to all points of the compass. Basel also plays an important role as a key hub within the European road network. It is here that the German, French and Swiss motorway systems link up. And finally: the essential public transport services, which make such a significant contribution towards the excellent urban and local transport infrastructure, are considered exemplary by many city authorities. As the northern gateway to the European Union, Basel also provides the infrastructure necessary to send the enormous freight volumes to their respective destinations.
Investing in the future
Substantial sums are being invested to improve the infrastructure still further. The expansion of the capacity of the binational EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg has been completed in June 2005.: the new north passenger terminal - a dazzling structure made of glass, steel and concrete - was inaugurated on 28 November 2002. There are also plans to complete a railway link to the EuroAirport by the year 2010. And to ensure that the French motorway is connected directly to the Swiss motorway network, a new motorway section is currently being built. This passes largely beneath the city and across Switzerland's first double-decker bridge. Official inauguration of the complete track of the north tangent is scheduled for the year 2008. Investments are also being made in the Rhine ports of the two Basel cantons: a new bridge has made the harbour basin 2 accessible for larger freight ships, and this has massively improved the Rhine-rail interface.
Major transshipment centre
As the principal northern gateway to Switzerland, Basel provides the infrastructure needed to forward commercial goods to their final destinations - facilities for transport by air, water, rail and road, as well as container terminals for transfers between rail/road, road/ship or ship/rail. Goods trains are processed or reconfigured at the marshalling yards in Weil am Rhein and Muttenz. Ship-borne freight is unloaded or transferred at the Rhine harbours. Transport aircraft leave EuroAirport in many directions. A large proportion of the heavy road traffic uses the tunnels through the Alps. To relieve the pressure on the main roads and the environment, commercial vehicles can be loaded onto so-called "Huckepack" trains at the Basel border; these then travel right across Switzerland on the so-called "rolling highway". Switzerland also promotes unaccompanied, combined freight transport.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
