#waldshut

The Baureihe 612 RegioSwinger is the fastest train on the route. It's a tilting Diesel multiple unit, and I already talked about it after my previous visit to Singen and Schaffhausen. It is the only type that runs the line in full between Basel Bad Bf and Singen as Regional Express (RE) 3, and does so in under 90 minutes (113 km @ 77 km/h).

Parallel to the express services are the omnibus Regional Bahn (RB), mainly RB 30 between Basel Bad Bf and Lauchringen. The workhorses on these routes are Baureihe 641 railcars, cousins of the French A TER, and Baureihe 644 Talent units. Coincidentally, both types were the final designs from small companies De Dietrich and Waggonfabrik Talbot in the 1990s, just before they were bought out by giants Alstom and Bombardier respectively (and later on, Alstom would absorb Bombardier).

Diesel multiple units need... well, Diesel, and if you were wondering, here's a fuel station, visible from the Swiss platform at Waldshut. Signs reading "612" and "644" on the right are clearly the stopping points for the types mentioned above. If you know how annoying it can be to have the petrol pump on the wrong side of your car, imagine how bad it'd be a for a train! Also, 641s can get lost apparently... (I'm guessing they can use another type's board.)

One track at Waldshut is electrified: the one to Switzerland, a country notorious for having electrified its entire passenger network. The train I boarded at Waldshut was a Thurbo-operated RABe 526 GTW, the one with the "power pack" module in the middle.

Like many places along the Rhine so far, Waldshut's status was affected by the Napoleonic wars, though a bit differently. For a while, it had been a possession of the Habsburgs, hence it embraces an Austrian heritage. The Habsburgs defeat to Napoleon at Austerlitz led to Vörderösterreich being dissolved, and Waldshut, on the right bank of the Rhine, was handed to the Duchy of Baden. Opposite, on the left bank, the Swiss nuclear power plant at Leibstadt (47 km from Basel SBB, no station) somewhat dominates the landscape.

From Waldshut, the German Hochrheinbahn makes a beeline for Schaffhausen, while the river starts to meander. So, to follow the river more closely, we take a detour in Switzerland, crossing to Koblenz (54 km). Amusingly, there is another Koblenz along the Rhine, in Germany, but not directly opposite - it's way, way further downstream, past Mainz. I've been there but am yet to make a significant post on it.

And so we arrive at Eglisau (80 km), our last stop for today. Between here and Bülach is a short section with connections for trains to Waldshut, Schaffhausen, Zürich and Winterthur. Below, an international Stuttgart-Zürich DB InterCity double-decker crosses the single-track viaduct from Schaffhausen.

And this is the view of the other side of the road bridge:

Eglisau is a lovely little place, with a charming historic centre - tell me if you've heard this one before. And like everywhere else on this trip, it's probably more popular in warmer seasons. Meanwhile, you know I like me a good clock, and a break in the clouds allowed me to use the sundial: nearly 3 PM solar time, and near the winter solstice on the calendar.