Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway

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BLS Re4 class loco 485 006 at Mannheim, July 2004

The Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon (BLS) railway, known since the merger of the "old" BLS with the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn (BN), the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (GBS) and the Simmentalbahn (SEZ) in 1997 as the BLS Lötschbergbahn, is the largest standard-gauge network on the Swiss Railway system apart from the Federal Railways, SBB-CFF-FFS. The railway had not been built at the time that the Federal government took control of all the other Swiss standard-gauge railways in 1905 to form the Federal Railways. The BLS is considered the largest of the Swiss "private" railways, although the majority of its capital is owned by the Cantonal government of Bern, and the SBB owns 34%.

The main line runs from Bern, the Swiss capital, through Spiez and the Lötschberg Tunnel to Brig, where it reconnects with the SBB network. It then enters the Simplon Tunnel to Italy which it enters at Iselle di Trasquera. The line forms a key part of the Bern-Milan artery which the company operates jointly with the SBB. The company also operates extensive commuter services as part of the Bern S-Bahn network. In 1994 the BLS moved 9.2 million passengers.

The BLS network operates trains over 245 km of standard gauge track, but the BLS actually owns only 115 km. The whole network is electrified at 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz.

[edit] Business activities

The BLS is engaged in the following activities:

Maintenance of the infrastructure used by the BLS,
Passenger rail transportation
- Since a 1994 agreement with the SBB, the BLS has operated many suburban services in Bern, and runs regional services towards Neuchâtel, Luzern and Brig using SBB lines
Rail freight transportation via the BLS Cargo subsidiary (in 2002 870 million ton-kilometres of freight were conveyed)
Rail transportation of accompanied cars through the Lötschberg tunnel
Rail transportation of trucks between Switzerland and Italy via RAlpin SA (a BLS subsidiary), the SBB, and Hupac (a Swiss road-rail transporter company)
Lake transport ferries on Lakes Thun and Brienz.

A BLS push-pull train next to an SBB NPZ.

[edit] References

Florian Inäbnit, Jürg Aeschlimann: Bern–Neuenburg-Bahn. Die Linie Bern–Neuenburg der BLS. Prellbock Druck & Verlag, Leissigen 2001. ISBN 3-907579-18-6
Ulf Degener: Neue Wege im Alpentransit. Umorientierung bei der BLS Lötschbergbahn. In: Lok Magazin. GeraNova, München 41/2002,255, S. 25-26. ISSN 0458-1822
W. Brügger: Das Frutigbuch. Heimatkunde für die Landschaft Frutigen. Kapitel "Die Bahnen". Paul Haupt, Bern 1977, pp. 419-437.