Switzerland
Welcome to the Swiss railroads section of the FUNET Railway pictures archive
Trams, BLT Basellandtrafik
BLT or Basellandtrafik is a company owned by the Baselland Kanton. It is the fusion product of BEB, the Birseckbahn (a line from
Basel up via the river Birs valley to Arlesheim, Baselland, and Dornach, in Kanton Solothurn), the Trambahngesellschaft Basel-Aesch,
which operated on the other side of the Birs valley from Basel to Aesch and the Birsigthalbahn, originally a real train line with
narrow gauge steam trains, designed to be built all the way from Basel via the Birsig river valley to Porrentruy, but which was never
built further than Rodersdorf. The combination of all this led to the construction of line 10 Dornach-Arlesheim-Basel-Flüh-Rodersdorf,
which is today Europe´s longest tram line where one stop in the middle (the old Leymen station) actually is in France and also line 11,
Aesch-Basel-St. Louis border, another remarkably long line, with train-like fast service at the end close to Aesch. It takes more than
an hour for a tram to run through the line no. 10 and most of the line is clearly built for trains, not trams. The old stations look
pretty funny with today´s low-floor trams.
Basel is a city of only about 200 000 inhabitants but still an impressive tram network,
with two service companies BLT and BVB operating on the same network. Lines are long
and so are the trams.
BLT low-floor unit 265 on line 10 with an older 100-series carriage as a trailer,
Arlesheim Dorf, Baselland, January 1999. Photo by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded May 24, 1999
The tram lines in Basel are long, and so are the trams. Two companies, the Basel City BVB
and the Baselland BLT operate on the same network. The longest lines take well over an hour
to drive from end to end and the lines are extended a long way to the countryside. Here BLT
low floor articulated tram 219 with two joints together with a similar but non-low floor,
one joint wagon as a trailer at Wolfgottesacker in May 1999.
Photo by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded May 24, 1999
Partly low floor articulated tram Basellandtrafik BLT no. 211 on its way to Dornach on line
10 at Elektra Birseck, Münchenstein, Kanton Baselland. As a trailer coach is an unidentified
100 series articulated tram. This is one of the longest combinations seen in Basel. Line 10
takes over an hour to ride end to end, and the line runs on the terrains of three Swiss
Kantons (Basel Stadt, Baselland and Solothurn) and two countries (one stop is in France).
Photo May 1999 by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded Jun 5, 1999
Baselland BLT 211 and unidentified tram of the 100 series as a combination on line 10,
halting to a stop at Elektra Birseck, Münchenstein.
Photo May 1999 by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded Jun 5, 1999
An unidentified Baselland BLT partly low floor tram of the 200 series, with a 1960´s 100
series tram 106 as a trailer wagon on line 10 in Münchenstein, Baselland. The picture is
taken from far away to show the remarkable length of a typical BLT tram combination.
Photo May 1999 by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded Jun 5, 1999
This is a Basel BVB Düwag Be 4/6 tram, which has now been sold to the Baselland Kanton tram company BLT and repainted in BLT´s
yellow and red colours. When BVB started receiving its first brand new Siemens Combino trams in 2001 and 2002, many the
old Düwags were put out of service. Some were donated to ex-Yugoslavia, but some - like this one - were sold to the "neighbors",
the neighboring company Basellandtrafik BLT, operating on the same tracks. BLT replaced older trailers with the Düwags. The old
Düwag actually looks a lot better in its new painting. It is 19,735 m long, weighs 23 tons and has 40 places to sit and place for
113 standing passengers. Photo 21.6.2002 by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded 22.6.2002
Another view of the extremely long combination at the line 11. "St Louis Grenze" end station by the French Alsace border
in Basel. First wagon is a Be 4/8 and the trailer is a Düwag Be 4/6. The first wagon was originally built as Be 4/6 between 1978
and -81 by Siemens. BLT had 66 of these wagons. Many of them - like this one - were later retrofitted with an extra
middle part in the low floor style to become a Be 4/8 wagon, 26,2 meters long, but the lengthening was done nicely in the same
style, not spoiling the wagons as Basel BVB did. The trailer wagon, Düwag Be 4/6 was built some time between 1967 and -72
by German Düwag, Siemens and BBC. It is 19,7 meters long. It is a huge combination as a tram.
Photo 21.6.2002 by Ilkka Siissalo, ilkka.siissalo(at-sign)iki.fi
Uploaded 22.6.2002