The whole line — including the sections on Swiss territory — was owned under treaty by Baden State Railways and still belongs to Deutsche Bahn. The 1852 treaty allows Switzerland to reclaim ownership of the section on Swiss territory on five year's notice. Although this possibility was discussed after the First World War, it was never implemented. In the Second World War, cross-border traffic was severely limited and military traffic did not pass through Switzerland. In 1944/45, four pairs of passenger services each day ran all the way between Basel Bad Bf and Singen. In the timetable, however, it was expressly stated: "transit through the canton of Schaffhausen only permitted with passport with exemption (visa)". Between 8 June 1945 and 1 August 1953 the German railway infrastructure in Switzerland was managed by a trust authority established by the Swiss Federal Council.
Between 1873 and 1899, train ferries operated from Konstanz over Lake Constance to ports in Germany and Austria.
Route
The railway follows the High Rhine upstream between Basel and Waldshut. It crosses the Germany-Switzerland border for the first time between Basel and Grenzach-Wyhlen. East of Waldshut, the tracks divert from the river and run in northeastward direction towards Klettgau valley. It crosses the German-Swiss border between Erzingen and Trasadingen. The highest elevation is reached near Beringerfeld. At the eastern end of Klettgau valley, the line runs through Engi, a narrow valley between Beringen and Neuhausen. Between Neuhausen and Schaffhausen, the line approaches the High Rhine and follows it for a short distance before turning northwards just south of Schaffhausen station, again diverting from the river. The line then runs in northeastward direction and crosses the Swiss-German border between Thayngen and Bietingen. Passing through the Hegau region, the line turns southeastwards east of Singen. It runs along the western shore of the Bodanrück peninsula, along the Gnadensee part of Lower Lake Constance. Shortly before reaching Konstanz, its eastern terminus, the line crosses the Seerhein over the Old Rhine Bridge.
The line is 143 kilometres (89mi) long and standard gauge. As of 2024, the line between Basel Bad Bf and Erzingen is not electrified, whilst the rest of the line (between Erzingen and Constance) is electrified at 15kV 16.7Hz AC supplied by overhead line. The state of Baden-Württemberg and the canton of Schaffhausen have been asked to fund electrification of the part of the route between Basel Badischer Bahnhof and Schaffhausen. In 2013, the section between Erzingen and Schaffhausen was electrified. There are plans to electrify the entire line in the near future.[2]
The section between Waldshut and Basel is mainly used by commuters in the industrial conurbation of Basel. The section of the line in the canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and adjacent German towns has its own services operated by the Swiss Federal Railways' subsidiaries SBB GmbH and THURBO (in addition to the S24). The section between Schaffhausen and Singen, which connects the Gäubahn and the Swiss rail network and carries significant long-distance passenger and freight traffic. On the section between Singen and Konstanz, local services operate as part of Bodensee S-Bahn, while IRE services connect with Karlsruhe.
Services using the High Rhine Railway line (as of December 2023)
A long-distance service between Basel and Herisau, via St. Gallen, is scheduled to begin operations with the December 2027 timetable change. This service, named the Hochrhein-Bodensee-Express (HBE, lit.'High Rhine-Lake Constance Express'), will be operated by SBB GmbH, Swiss Federal Railways' German subsidiary. It will use the entire High Rhine Railway line and continue over the Lake Line to Romanshorn and from there over the Bodensee-Toggenburg railway line until Herisau. It will replace the RE1 (Konstanz–Herisau). Before the HBE can be introduced, the section between Basel Bad Bf and Erzingen will be electrified.[4][5]
Gerber, Rainer (1981). 125 Jahre Basel-Waldshut: Jubiläum der Eisenbahn am Hochrhein, 1981 (in German). Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag.
Scharf, Hans Wolfgang (1993). Die Eisenbahn am Hochrhein (Series: Südwestdeutsche Eisenbahngeschichte) (in German). Vol.1: Von Basel zum Bodensee 1840–1939. Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag.
Scharf, Hans Wolfgang (1993). Die Eisenbahn am Hochrhein (Series: Südwestdeutsche Eisenbahngeschichte) (in German). Vol.2: Von Basel zum Bodensee 1939–1992. Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag.
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