"Transportation

The first-class location and the transportation infrastructure make Basel the top logistics center for Switzerland. Basel’s airport is set up for airfreight; heavy goods reach the city and the heart of continental Europe from the North Sea by ship along the Rhine. The main European routes for the highway and railway transportation of freight cross in Basel. The outstanding location benefits logistics corporations, which operate globally from Basel. Trading firms are traditionally well represented in the Basel Region.

Basel Bahnhof SBB, self proclaimed "world’s first international train station."

Port

Basel has Switzerland's only cargo port, through which goods pass along the navigable stretches of the Rhine and connect to ocean-going ships at the port of Rotterdam.

Air transport

EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is operated jointly by two countries, France and Switzerland. Contrary to popular belief, the airport is located completely on French soil. The airport itself is split into two architecturally independent sectors, one half serving the French side and the other half serving the Swiss side; there is a customs point at the middle of the airport so that people can "emigrate" to the other side of the airport.

Railway

Basel has long held an important place as a rail hub. Three railway stations — those of the German, French and Swiss networks — lie within the city (although the Swiss (Basel SBB) and French (Bâle SNCF) stations are actually in the same complex, separated by Customs and Immigration facilities). Basel Badischer Bahnhof is on the opposite side of the city. The largest goods railway complex of the country[citation needed] is located just outside the city, spanning the municipalities of Muttenz and Pratteln. The new highspeed ICE railway line from Karlsruhe to Basel will be completed in 2008 while phase I of the TGV-Est line, opened in June 2007, has reduced travel time from Basel to Paris to 3 1/2 hours.

Roads

Within city limits, five bridges connect greater and lesser Basel, from upstream to downstream:

* Schwarzwaldbrücke (built 1972)

* Wettsteinbrücke (current structure built 1998, original bridge built 1879)

* Mittlere Brücke (current structure built 1905, original bridge built 1225 as the first bridge to cross the Rhine River)

* Johanniterbrücke (built 1967)

* Dreirosenbrücke (built 2004, original bridge built 1935)

Ferries

A somewhat anachronistic yet still widely used system of ferry boats links the two shores. There are four ferries, each situated approximately midway between two bridges. Each is attached by a cable to a block that rides along another cable spanning the river at a height of 20 or 30 metres. To cross the river, the ferryman orients the boat around 45° from the current so that the current pushes the boat across the river. This form of transportation is therefore completely hydraulically driven, requiring no outside energy source.

Public transport

Basel has an extensive public transportation network serving the city and connecting to surrounding suburbs. The green-colored local trams and buses are operated by the BVB (Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe). The yellow-colored buses and trams are operated by the BLT Baselland Transport, and connect areas in the nearby half-canton of Baselland to central Basel. The trams are powered by overhead lines, and the bus fleet consists of conventional fuel-powered vehicles. The BVB also shares commuter bus lines in cooperation with transit authorities in the neighboring Alsace region in France and Baden region in Germany. The Regio-S-Bahn Basel, the commuter rail network connecting to suburbs surrounding the city, is jointly operated by SBB, SNCF and DB.

Border crossings

Basel is located at the meeting point of France, Germany and Switzerland and has numerous road and rail crossings between Switzerland and the other two countries. With Switzerland joining the Schengen area on December 12, 2008, immigration checks were no longer carried out at the crossings. However, Switzerland did not join the EU customs regime and customs checks are still conducted at or near the crossings.

France-Switzerland

* Road and Highway crossings (with French road name continuation)

o Autobahn A3 (A35, Saint-Louis)

o Elsässerstrasse (Avenue de Bâle, Saint-Louis)

o Hüningerstrasse (Avenue de Bâle, Saint-Louis)

o Burgfelderstrasse (Rue du 1er Mars, Saint Louis)

o EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg - pedestrian walkway between the French and Swiss sections on Level 3 (departures) of airport.

* Railway crossing

o Basel SBB railway station

Germany-Switzerland

* Road and highway crossings (with German road name continuation)

o Autobahn A2 (Autobahn A5, Weil am Rhein)

o Hiltalingerstrasse (Zollstraße, Weil am Rhein)

o Freiburgerstrasse (Baslerstraße, Weil am Rhein)

o Grenzacherstrasse (Hörnle, Grenzach-Wyhlen)

o Weilstrasse, Riehen (Haupstraße, Weil am Rhein)

o Lörracherstrasse, Riehen (Baslerstraße, Stetten, Lörrach)

o Inzlingerstrasse, Riehen (Riehenstraße, Inzlingen)

* Railway crossing

o Between Basel SBB and Basel Badischer Bahnhof - Basel Badischer Bahnhof, and all other railway property and stations on the right bank of the Rhine belong to DB and are classed as German customs territory. Immigration and customs checks are conducted at the platform exit tunnel for passengers leaving trains here."