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.

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.

BLS AG owns or operates on the following railway lines:

Also see Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway#Locomotives and multiple units

BLS Cargo has the following rolling stock.

In 2010, 28 Stadler KISS EMUs were ordered; the first was delivered in March 2012. As of 2012^[update], BLS was planning BLS to spend around SFr1·2bn on new rolling stock by 2025, building a more standardised fleet with fewer different types of train.

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 Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) 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:

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