Most of the German long-distance trains on the Rhine Valley Railway end at Basel SBB station and run along the Connecting Line.

The building of the Connecting Line was licensed by the Swiss federal government on 14 March 1870.

The property boundary is at the 3.537 km chainage mark (at the north head of the Rhine bridge).

Trains runs on the right, unlike elsewhere in the SBB network, in order to avoid the need to switch sides at Basel Baden station.

The overhead line can be used by trains with both Swiss and German pantographs (maximum lateral deviation of 200 mm).