Where trams cross the border

Will I be checked or not? And if so, how long will it take? Will it then be worth crossing the border at all? Anyone who grew up in the small German town of Kehl on the German-French border in the 1980s will know just how frustrating it could sometimes be to visit the neighbouring city of Strasbourg, which even back then was well-known as the seat of the European Parliament. And this despite the fact that Strasbourg was only a few hundred metres away by bridge over the River Rhine. In many cases, it was easier just to stay at home.  

Taking the tram to Strasbourg Cathedral 

Nowadays the border guards are long gone. Anyone wishing to go from Kehl to Strasbourg - or vice versa - can be there in 15 minutes by car or can stroll or cycle across the chic “Passerelle des Deux Rives”, a bridge over the Rhine for pedestrians and cyclists that was opened in 2004. Another option is to board the tram at Kehl town hall, which transports one quickly across the Rhine. The tram has linked the two towns since 2017. 

Cross-border projects 

The many cross-border projects are proof of just how interconnected the towns and the region - Alsace in France and Ortenau in Germany - are these days. Since 2005, this has been fostered by the Eurodistrict of Strasbourg-Ortenau, a cross-border cooperation region.  

For example, an educational project named “Spiel & Parle” has been teaching primary school pupils the language of their neighbouring country in a fun and playful manner since 2021. “In doing so, the project also stimulates the development of the children’s intercultural curiosity, which is a key skill in a cross-border region such as we have here,” says Katrin Neuss, the Eurodistrict’s deputy secretary general. Since 2013, a Franco-German police bike squad wearing the same uniform has been patrolling the border region - a project that is so far unique in Europe. 

“Bassin de vie” – a shared living area 

Kehl celebrated the 30th anniversary of many cross-border institutions in 2023. Heike Thiele, Germany’s consul general in Strasbourg and ambassador to the Council of Europe, stressed at the time how natural it was for German and French citizens to be living side by side: “Border regions are the visible and invisible seams joining Europe together. The Upper Rhine is a closely interwoven ‘bassin de vie’, as it is known in France – on both an institutional and personal level.” European integration becomes palpable in this shared living area, Thiele adds.