BLS AG
BLS AG is a Swiss railway company created by the 2006 merger of BLS Lötschbergbahn and Regionalverkehr Mittelland AG. It is 55.8 % owned by the Canton of Berne, and 21.7 % by the Swiss Confederation. It has two main business fields: passenger traffic and infrastructure.
BLS has a subsidiary BLS Cargo which is responsible for all freight operations. BLS Cargo works in cooperation with the freight subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, Railion. However, the staff, apart from management and sale, is employed by BLS AG. Part of the BLS locomotive fleet is owned by BLS Cargo.
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[edit] Infrastructure
In 2007 the new, 34.6 km long, Lötschberg base tunnel opened, which is part of the 449 km of infrastructure owned and operated by BLS AG. For details of the network see the map at right. The Lötschberg base tunnel was built by a wholly owned subsidiary BLS AlpTransit AG. By mid-2007 this company handed over the base tunnel to BLS AG. In 2009 this company was renamed BLS Netz AG and the whole BLS infrastructure passed over to this company which is mainly owned by the Swiss Confederation, which has paid for most of the recent investments.
[edit] Passenger train services
Since the merger BLS has been the exclusive operator of the standard gauge part of the S-Bahn Bern. This includes open access services over SBB-CFF-FFS and STB Sensetalbahn tracks. Since December 2007 BLS offers a new RegioExpress service over the old Lötschberg route while most SBB and Cisalpino, InterCity, and EuroCity trains use the new Lötschberg tunnel. Here is a full list of regular BLS train services:
- S1 Laupen/Fribourg-Bern-Münsingen-Thun
- S11 Bern-Flamatt-Fribourg[-Romont]
- S2 Schwarzenburg-Bern-Konolfingen-Langnau
- S22 Bern-Köniz-Schwarzenburg
- S3 Biel/Bienne-Lyss-Bern-Belp(-Thun)
- S33 Bern-Belp-Thun
- S4 (Rosshäusern-)Bern Brünnen Westside-Bern-Burgdorf-Ramsei-Affoltern-W.
- S44 Rosshäusern-Bern Brünnen Westside-Bern-Burgdorf-Wiler/Langnau
- S5 Bern-Kerzers-Neuenburg/Murten(-Payerne)
- S51 Bern-Stöckacker-Bümpliz Nord
- S6 Langenthal-Huttwil-Willisau-Wolhusen-Luzern
- S7 (Langenthal-Huttwil-)Willisau-Wolhusen-Trubschachen
- RegioExpress
- RegioExpress Bern-Langnau-Luzern
- RegioExpress Thun-Konolfingen-Burgdorf-Solothurn
- RegioExpress Bern-Neuenburg
- RegioExpress Bern-Münsingen-Spiez-Brig
- Regional trains
- Regio Interlaken Ost-Spiez-Zweisimmen
- Regio Spiez-Frutigen (einzelne Verdichtungen zum RE)
- Regio Thun-Konolfingen-Hasle Rüegsau(-Burgdorf)
- Regio Burgdorf-Solothurn
- Regio Solothurn-Moutier
- Regio Kerzers-Lyss-Büren a. Aare
[edit] Other passenger services
BLS owns the lake steamers on Lakes Brienz and Thun. Furthermore, BLS also provides some bus services connecting to the train services.
[edit] External links
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