The following year, 1845, the Elsässerbahn (Alsatian Railway) built the first station in the Basel metropolitan area, within the city walls.

[6] Meanwhile, the Rheintalbahn from Mannheim and Karlsruhe also approached Basel from the north; in 1851 it reached Haltingen (a district of Weil am Rhein), on the Swiss border.

Its purpose was the establishment of a link between the city of Basel and the economic centres of the Mittelland cantons, and perhaps even also the expansion of the transport corridor from Lucerne to the Gotthard.

However, to accommodate the commencement of railway operations on 19 December 1854, the Centralbahn built a simple temporary timber structure, according to plans developed by chief architect Ludwig Maring.

This modest provisional station, equipped with makeshift facilities, was made up of individual detached buildings and was used only for just under six years.

On 29 June 1857, the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt agreed to the construction of a link between the French line and the Centralbahn and the erection of a through station in the field in front of the Elisabethen-Bollwerk.

In 1875, as a first measure of relief, the marshalling of freight trains was relocated to a makeshift yard to the east of the station, on an open field known as "auf dem Wolf".

At around that time, discussions began with the aim of lowering the tracks and replacing the troublesome urban level crossings on the Elsässerbahn and at the Centralbahnhof.

In 1874, provisional timber pedestrian bridges had already been built at Margarethenstrasse und Heumattstrasse; they were later replaced by iron structures.

Finally, in 1898, following the referendum on the nationalisation of Switzerland's railways, the Swiss Federal Council decided to go ahead with the following: The definitive project for a new Centralbahnhof in Basel was developed in 1899.

The first step was the relocation of goods traffic to the Wolf station, and on 12 May 1901 the Alsace line was reopened in its new lower position and wide arc.

On the vacated, lowered, area south of the original Centralbahnhof, the provisional station was built, and on 2 June 1902 it went into operation.

In 1902, the Schweizerische Centralbahn was absorbed by the newly formed Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS).

The new station, which from then onwards was referred to as Schweizer Bundesbahnhof or Basel SBB, was one of the new Federal Railways' first large building projects.

The station building is aligned to the centre line of the Centralbahnplatz, and features a huge glazed tudor arch window between two clock towers under curved domes.

The baggage check-in and hand luggage storage facilities were formerly also located here, but today they are in the basement, and accessed by means of an escalator and stairs.

The high rooms, their walls decorated with murals, now house other commercial uses together with the sole remaining specialty restaurant.

Tracks 1 to 10 are spanned by a five aisle train shed, which was created in 1905 by Albert Buss & Cie. [de] of Pratteln in Basel.

Designed by architects Cruz and Ortiz, it runs over the tracks from the ticket hall at the western end of the train shed to the district of Gundeldingen, and links the platforms with each other.

An ICE departs from Basel SBB every hour to Berlin or Hamburg and a number of other German cities.

As a border station, Basel SBB is also aligned with regional services to Germany, France, and Switzerland.