In 1798, the small Republic of Mulhouse, independent and ally of the Swiss cantons, the exchange rate regime to link its destiny to that of his great French neighbor. In a few years, the small city will become an important industrial center.
The Mulhouse diplomacy particular is cited as a model for his dexterity, allowing it to negotiate with the Habsburgs while emphasizing its relations with the Swiss Protestant cantons. To ensure security, the Republic was able to ally with the cities of the Decapolis, before finding better support with the Swiss cantons and especially well organized with impressive military assets. This expertise will take later, a different direction.
The Mulhouse enclave model within the young French Republic, Mulhouse must find ways to export its production, these rich printed fabrics to the delight of many European capitals. The bourgeois Mulhouse, from some big families, steeped in Calvinism, Freemasonry, Saint-Simonian but also liberalism will be tireless entrepreneurs multiplying the useful initiatives to the economic dynamism. Their descendants will find themselves at the head of industrial groups to international fame as DMC or SACM. These manufacturers will adapt to necessary changes caused by the influx of workers from all the
Region but also in Germany. This increase in population requires quick and effective solutions in terms of safety, housing and sanitation. From the late eighteenth century, the first social measures appear to Mulhouse, at a time when the elites do not show inspired by misery. This is not no paradise, but Mulhouse reputation then made around the world. We like to mention, in worldly lounges, Mulhouse model reflecting another social economy model. All the ingredients are now in place for a true industrial explosion that presents, from 1812, with the arrival of steam engines in the spinning and weaving mills. Other valuable inventions appear in 1821 with the mechanical loom, and in 1845 with the mechanical comber. The city has already spread far beyond the walls of the old little Republic, dozens of industrial buildings springing up on the meadows bordering the city.
"French Manchester" Some take gigantic dimensions, requiring their supply by railroads and canals. The nicknames "French Manchester" or "city of the hundred chimneys" are not usurped. Close spinners appears a new city with streets perfectly straight, in which the worker can cultivate a small vegetable returning from the factory. Mulhouse thus equips more than 1,200 homes spread over 60 hectares to house the workforce needed to operate its factories. It also needs frameworks and form in its own drawing schools, weaving, trade and chemistry. Yet if the combined industrialists, philanthropists and workers leads to a fantastic industrial success, it will inevitably produce large social difficulties. Soon, two classes will find themselves face to face with different interests to defend. This exceptional past Mulhouse has retained a rich heritage. Besides its brownfield some of which have been subtly rehabilitated, the city has museums that are all hymns to the genius of engineers and knowledge workers.
To date, Mulhouse has adopted a system of bicycles: 240 bikes spread over 40 stations are available for rent through the service "VéloCité". Bikes are available 24 hours on 24, every day including Sundays and holidays. Next to the rental system self service Mulhouse also has a conventional bicycle rental service called Locacycles. At the station, Locacycles association will keep bikes people visiting Mulhouse train or using the combined bike + train.
The tram-train Mulhouse Thur Valley is a line jointly operated by Soléa and SNCF linking Mulhouse in Thann. The commissioning took place on 12 December 2010, along with the opening of Line 3 of the tram Mulhouse, from which it borrows the paths of Central Station Mulhouse station to station Lutterbach. Then, it uses the tracks of the line of Lutterbach in Kruth to the Thann-Saint-Jacques station. Mulhouse Alsace Agglomeration is the owner for the urban section, and Réseau Ferré de France for the rest of the line. For financial reasons, the line is carried out in two phases, the first being already carried out, and then connect the Kruth station once the second phase is completed. This is the second tram-train interconnected on French territory after the German Saarbahn circulating in Sarreguemines, and the first fully interconnected French tram-train.
