Tram in Loerrach
The Lörrach tram (St.BL) was originally part of the Basel tram network in the southern Baden district town of Lörrach . From 1919 to 1967 there was tram traffic to Germany across the Swiss border . The transport company of the same name , a municipal company owned by the city of Lörrach, was responsible.
route
| Railway station – state border | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 2.3 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 600 volts DC = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The meter-gauge Lörrach tram route was 2.3 kilometers long and connected the Lörrach train station with the Swiss municipality of Riehen . There were a total of six stops on German territory .
The line began at the train station and ran on a single track to the “Marktplatz” stop, where there was a siding . After the market square it led over Basler Strasse to the “Baumgartnerstrasse” stop north of the intersection with Baumgartnerstrasse. The route through the city center was single-track for 500 meters due to lack of space, but double-tracked from the “Baumgartnerstraße” stop. From there, the route continued over Basler Strasse and the “Schillerstrasse” stop south of today's traffic circle in front of the Stetten train station to the “ Stetten ” stop . Then it continued on Basler Strasse to the “Dammstrasse” stop at the level of the Weil am Rhein – Lörrach railway line , and then passed into the network of Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) at the state border .
history
Planning and commissioning
As early as 1897, the Baden state government tried to reach an agreement with the city of Basel on a concession for the construction and operation of a tram service between Basel and Lörrach. Negotiations dragged on due to various concerns and views. At the time, the Grand Ducal Baden State Railways were among the greatest opponents, fearing for the profitability of the Wiesentalbahn, which ran almost parallel between Riehen and Lörrach . Other opponents included the municipality of Riehen, which considered it unprofitable to widen the Lörracher Strasse, which was necessary for a tram route to Basel.
After the various parties came to an agreement, an application for a concession for the tram line was submitted to the Baden government on February 5, 1907, which was granted on April 22. The new route for the tram was laid down in May and the widening of Basler Strasse began. Almost a year later, on August 7, 1908, the first section was ceremoniously opened with the line between the Badischer Bahnhof in Basel and the village center in Riehen.
In close proximity to the border, the foundations for a tram route were laid on the German side. As a level crossing between trams and state railways was not permitted on the military side, a railway overpass for the garden railway between Weil am Rhein and Lörrach across Basler Strasse was built in 1909 for 168,000 marks .
The end point of the route was not yet known until 1911. They thought about continuing the tram to Tumringen or even to Rümmingen and further into the Kandertal . Another line via Tumringen - Haagen - Hauingen - Brombach to Lörrach was also evaluated. After all structural and financial details had been agreed and the final destination was the Loerrach train station, the final plans were approved by the government in Karlsruhe on February 28, 1912 .
The contract between the cities of Basel and Lörrach was then signed on June 30, 1913. On the Swiss side, construction began immediately from the Riehener village to the border, so that this 1.2-kilometer section of the route was put into operation on December 1, 1914. The progress of construction on the Loerrach side was slowed down by the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914. The conversion to the war economy severely affected the construction of the tram and temporarily came to a standstill. After the end of the war, track construction finally began on the Baden side.
On November 15, 1919, the tram was officially opened in Lörrach. However, it only operated in the urban area of Lörrach. If you wanted to go to Basel, you had to cross the border on foot and board the connecting train in Swiss territory. The vehicles and staff were provided by the then Basler Strassenbahnen (B.St.B.), which ran the business and paid a lease to the city of Lörrach.
Inflation and world war
The hyperinflation of 1922 and 1923 caused great problems and slowed down the operation of the tram. The price set on June 1, 1923 for a journey of 500 paper marks reached the value of 20 million paper marks on October 15, 1923. Since the Basel staff was unable to have the change necessary to carry out the operation, the fare was declared in Swiss francs from October 21, 1923 . From then on, a trip cost 20 cents. With the introduction of the Rentenmark , the price was set at 20 cents, 16 Rentenpfennig or Reichspfennig or 16 billion paper marks in early 1924 .
On May 15, 1926, after the economic and political situation had normalized, the originally planned continuous tram service between Basel and Lörrach could finally be started. However, staff continued to be changed at the border. Due to the economic upswing and the new attractive connection across the border, the number of passengers rose steadily.
After the seizure of power of the Nazis in January 1933, the cross-border tram connection lost much of its appeal. Stricter controls and regulations hampered traffic, which led to a drop in passenger numbers. The Basel line 6 remained in operation on the route from Lörrach via Basel Badischer Bahnhof to Allschwil until 1938 , although there was a change in personnel at the border from 1937. From 1938, operations at the border were again interrupted and only the route between the border and the main train station was served. Due to the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, the border was closed, the inner-city traffic in Lörrach was no longer served and the vehicles were transferred back to Basel. The route was served by replacement buses until 1942 .
Time after World War II
Two years after the end of the Second World War, the Lörrach tram line was operated again from June 1, 1947. However, there were fundamental changes compared to the pre-war years. The tram operation was interrupted again at the border and the Lörrach route was thus separated from the rest of the Basel network. The operation in Lörrach was handed over to the city of Lörrach by the neighboring company called Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe since 1946. Only the railcars - exclusively two-axle type Ce 2/2 built in 1900 and 1911/12 - were rented. The city of Lörrach then provided the staff and was responsible for maintaining the infrastructure.
The railcars continued to run as line 6 between the station and the border, at intervals of four to twenty minutes, depending on the time of day. Across the border, Basel Line 6 began its journey in the Wendeschleife towards the city center, from 1948 with modern open- plan Be 4/4 coaches . Since these as directional vehicles could not turn in Loerrach, found scheduled services across the border does not take more. The existing track connection was only used to transfer the Basel vehicles to Lörrach, as there was no car shed there. Usually six vehicles were parked on a track in front of the station at night. Only repair and maintenance work was carried out in Basel.
The first considerations of a possible shutdown of the tram existed as early as 1963. Due to changes in the tram construction and operating regulations (BOStrab) in 1960 and 1963, the outdated vehicles could no longer be registered in Germany due to their wooden superstructures and the lack of magnetic rail brakes . Since the Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe could not provide any newer vehicles for Lörrach, a different solution was used to avert the impending loss of the license and the resulting cessation of operations. On July 1, 1963, the city of Lörrach transferred the technical operation of the tram to the Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe. This enabled the tram to be operated instead of the German BOStrab, under the provisions of the ordinance on the construction and operation of the Swiss branch lines of May 19, 1929 .
Shutdown
In the spring of 1967 the shutdown became relevant again. As part of a general transport plan, the city had an expert report on local transport drawn up. Accordingly, a renewal of the rolling stock and the route in need of renovation would have required major investments. The expert opinion came with the recommendation to discontinue tram operations and replace them with bus routes.
Although the tram had a surplus of 35,000 German marks in the last year of operation , in contrast to most trams of the time, the city of Loerrach decided not to provide any funds for the renewal of the route. After a secret vote on June 8, 1967, the city council decided, contrary to the majority opinion of the population, to stop tram traffic from August 31, 1967 after 48 years of operation. At 9:00 p.m. that day, the last six vehicles used in Loerrach drove across the border.
From September 1, 1967, the new city bus network replaced the tram, which was operated by a licensed bus operator. The former line 6 of the tram was converted into bus line 6 and expanded from the main train station via the northern part of the city to the Homburg settlement. The city bus network including this line is now operated in a slightly modified form by the Südwestdeutsche Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft (SWEG).
Reactivation considerations
The "Citizens' Initiative Tram" of July 6, 1979, in which around 4,000 votes were cast and which called for the restoration of tram traffic between Lörrach and Riehen, was unsuccessful.
It was not until 2011 that reactivation was publicly discussed again. In this context, a reactivation of the 2.3 km long historic route via Basler Strasse to the main train station was first considered. Since such a distance but too close to the now in the S-Bahn Basel integrated Wiesentalbahn would be, it was proposed shortly after an alternative route.
The new track would run west of the city center on the former 5.5 km long freight railway in the direction of Grütt , which was closed in 1998. By reactivating the cleared route, numerous quarters and public facilities, such as B. the park swimming pool, the Grütt, the fair and also the planned new building of the district hospital for the rail-bound local public transport are newly developed. So-called mobility hubs could link trams, buses and S-Bahn at the Lörrach-Stetten train station or at the Lörrach-Haagen / Messe stop, thereby relieving the existing traffic routes.
In 2018, the city of Lörrach decided to carry out a feasibility study to discuss the issue of extending the tram from Riehen to Lörrach. However, this study was not commissioned until the end of 2019.
As early as December 2014, line 8 of the Basel tram was extended to the Weil train station , which has since seen a regular increase in passenger numbers.
literature
- Harald Mettenberger: The tram in Loerrach. In: Tram magazine. Issue 15, p. 17.
- Dieter Höltge: German trams and light rail vehicles. Gifhorn 1979
Web links
- History of the tram line from Riehen state border to Lörrach station
- The Lörracher “Trämli” - from the history of a tram line
- IG Verkehr Lörrach - Project "Trämli on a new route"
Individual evidence
- ^ The beginning of the upswing , Badische Zeitung of August 6, 2008.
- ↑ 50 years ago the last tram passed through Lörrach , Badische Zeitung of August 30, 2017.
- ^ Basler Tram: Lörrach is looking for the tram line , Badische Zeitung of February 7, 2011.
- ↑ How Lörrach can get its own tram line , Badische Zeitung of July 22, 2016.
- ↑ Tram: Much usefulness with little effort , Südkurier from May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Another tram extension? - The 6 Series could soon go to Lörrach , bz - newspaper for the Basel region from May 13, 2018.
- ↑ Lörrach - Tram as a supplement to the train? , Die Oberbadische from January 17, 2019.
- ↑ Press release of the City of Lörrach from April 30, 2018: Study on the cross-border tram extension Basel - Riehen to Lörrach , last accessed on March 19, 2019.
- ↑ Tram: Much usefulness with little effort , Südkurier from May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Tram 8 continues to grow in Weil , Badische Zeitung from February 22, 2018.