That's something to marvel at: Rhine Valley Railway including ICE S, Railadventure, Rolling Highway
Trainspotters don't have it easy on the Rhine Valley Railway between Freiburg and Basel. The line runs flat and straight through densely populated areas, so it's not just the overhead line masts that obstruct the view of the tracks – the noise barriers do their part, too.
Between Schliengen and Eimeldingen, however, the old line runs through very attractive hilly terrain with several tunnels, which is why we naturally made a stop in Istein.
But let's start at the beginning.
We wanted to start at Basel Badischer Bahnhof – there's a separate video about that. While we were waiting for the train in Bad Krozingen, we spotted an extremely short ICE in the distance – the ICE S. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to wait there. But when our regional express train stopped in Weil am Rhein, the ICE S had already overtaken us (it went through the Katzenberg Tunnel, unlike us) and was standing on the siding.
We started in Istein. From the vineyards, we had a beautiful view of the line between the Klotz and Kirchberg tunnels – hoping to spot a freight train – and we weren't disappointed. The siding at the stop for the lime works was also worth a look.
From Schliengen, we hiked along the line to Auggen. There, the new line runs alongside the existing one, allowing us to observe all the Rhine Valley Railway traffic, including the Rolling Highway (RoLa), which will continue to operate here until December 2025.
In the evening, at dusk, we were back in Bad Krozingen, where we caught a few more trains.
The next day, we went to Müllheim. The new line currently begins there heading south – the Müllheim–Auggen section only opened a few weeks ago. Quite unexpectedly, we encountered the ICE S again. And – pure luck – we saw RailAdventure passing two S-Bahn trains in beautiful sunlight. One minute later – and we would have been gone...
And here's what you can see in detail – near Istein:
🚂 463 009 + 463 021 as RB 27 to Freiburg
🚂 4475 418 (BLS) with a freight train towards Basel
🚂 463 006 as RB 27 to Freiburg
🚂 SBB Cargo Vectron with containers towards Basel
🚂 463 021 + 463 009 as RB 27 to Basel
🚂 463 020 + 463 011 as RB 27 to Freiburg
Near Schliengen and Auggen:
🚂 193 515 with a container train towards Freiburg
🚂 1462 006 as RE 7 to Offenburg
🚂 185 189 (DB) with empty car transport train towards Freiburg
🚂 463 002 + 463 084 as RB 27 to Basel
🚂 193 524 (SBB Cargo Int.) with RoLa to Novara
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9478) as ICE 2877 to Basel
🚂 193 305 (TX + Mercitalia) with container train towards Freiburg
🚂 1462 003 + 1462 009 as RE 7 to Basel
🚂 463 011 + 463 020 as RB 27 to Basel
🚂 186 268 (Rhenus) with semi-trailers towards Freiburg
🚂 SBB Giruno (Stadler SMILE) as ECE 150 to Frankfurt
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9025) as ICE 376 to Hamburg
🚂 1462 008 as RE 7 to Basel
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9478) as ICE 102 to Hamburg
🚂 186 498 (Railpool) with trailers towards Basel
🚂 463 084 + 463 002 as RB 27 to Freiburg
🚂 146 234 with double-decker coach towards Freiburg
🚂 2 x Desiro HC to Offenburg
🚂 463 001 + 463 021 as RB 27 to Basel
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9467) as ICE 75 to Zurich
🚂 187 007 (Railpool) with car transport train towards Freiburg
🚂 193 544 (SBB) Cargo Int.) with semi-trailers to Basel
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9498) as ICE 2871 to Basel
Bad Krozingen:
🚂 1462 008 as RE 7 to Offenburg
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9005) as ICE 109 to Basel
🚂 193 430 with container train to Freiburg
🚂 486 501 (BLS): RoLa to Novara
🚂 189 995 (Beacon): Semi-trailer to Freiburg
🚂 SBB Giruno (RABe 510 026) as ECE 151 to Milan
🚂 ICE S (410 102 + 410 101) to Basel
🚂 185 058 (DB) with freight train to Freiburg
🚂 193 344 + 193 355 with freight train towards Basel
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9003) as ICE 370 to Berlin
🚂 475 402 (BLS) with semi-trailers towards Basel
🚂 463 001 as RB 27 to Freiburg
🚂 1462 004 as RE 7 to Basel
🚂 73916 (SNCF "Walfisch"): Mulhouse–Müllheim and return
🚂 1462 008 as RE 7 to Offenburg
🚂 193 524 (SBB Int.): RoLa to Freiburg
🚂 ICE 4 (Tz 9039) as ICE 275 to Interlaken
🚂 111 029 + 111 210 from Railadventure Transferring:
🚂 430 205 + 430 223 of the Stuttgart S-Bahn
... as well as 294 631 on the hump yard in Weil am Rhein.
Filmed on September 18 and 19, 2025.
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The following videos were also filmed that week:
🎬 Freiburg Hbf: • Was macht die Schwarzwaldbahn im Freiburge...
🎬 RoLa loading in Freiburg: • Die Rollende Landstraße am Ende; Verladung...
🎬 Basel Bad Bf station operations: • Deutsche Bahn-Enklave in der Schweiz: Base...
🎬 Gundelfingen: • Da trennen sich die Wege – Haltestelle Gun...
🎬 Baden-Baden: coming soon
I'd like to thank everyone who works tirelessly every day to ensure smooth operations on the railway, regardless of the company. And thank you to all the train drivers who waved but I didn't see them.
#Rheintalbahn #ICE-S #Trainspotting
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