Two weeks after night-time tram traffic between Basel and neighbouring France was stopped due to repeated attacks, cross-border services will again start running on Thursday, it has been announced.
Although the Basel City public transport services (BVB) did not specify exactly what will change, they said on Wednesday that extra measures have been taken to ensure the safety of staff.
The decision to recommence the cross-border routes after 20:00 each evening was taken after a meeting between Swiss and French authorities. Trams will return to normal service on Thursday (tomorrow) evening, BVB said.
On May 2, tram route number three between Basel and the neighbouring French commune of St-Louis stopped running after nightfall following a series of attacks on the French side involving people throwing stones and using laser pointers.
Such attacks had already led to extra security personnel accompanying the tram on the French side since November last year; however, the recent hospitalisation of a driver struck in the eye by a laser beam was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The situation and the new measures will be regularly evaluated, BVB said.
Basel’s public transport networkExternal link includes a tram network of 13 lines, operated by BVB and Baselland Transport. Three of the lines cross into neighouring countries: line 3 between Birsfelden Hard in Basel, Switzerland, and St-Louis in France, line 10 between Dornach in Switzerland and Rodersdorf Station, passing via Leyman in France, and line 8 connecting Neuweilerstrasse in Basel with Weil am Rhein in Germany.
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