About this journey

Basel SBB station, where this journey begins, opened in 1854 and was rebuilt in 1907 to a neo-baroque design by Emil Faesch and Emmanuel La Roche, a building now listed as a heritage site of national significance. The 1905 train shed spanning tracks 1 to 10 is 93 metres wide, and the station's electrification infrastructure reflects its role at a national boundary: track 4 carries catenary that can be switched between the Swiss 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC system and the French 25 kV 50 Hz AC system.

From Basel the route heads south toward the Alps along the Gotthard railway, whose construction began in 1872. The line cost CHF 238 million in total, with Italy contributing CHF 58 million and Germany CHF 30 million, reflecting the corridor's importance as an international artery. Electrification followed in 1922, carried out by Brown, Boveri & Cie using 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC. The mountain section is among the most engineered in Switzerland: 36 tunnels totalling 31,216 metres, seven spiral tunnels managing the altitude, and the main Gotthard Tunnel at 1,151 metres above sea level. Near Wassen, the spiral geometry brings the village church into view three times, the last time from 200 metres above the first sighting, at an altitude of 928 metres.

The line descends into Ticino and terminates at Locarno station, reached via a branch from Giubiasco. Since 1990 the station has two components: a surface SBB terminal and an underground metre-gauge terminal for the FART-operated line — a fitting counterpart to the multi-system complexity at the journey's northern start.