BLS AG facts for kids
BLS AG is a big railway company in Switzerland. It was formed in 2006 when two other railway companies, BLS Lötschbergbahn and Regionalverkehr Mittelland AG, joined together. Most of BLS AG is owned by the canton of Berne. The Swiss government, called the Swiss Confederation, also owns a part of it. BLS AG mainly does two things: it carries passengers and it manages railway tracks and stations.
BLS AG has a special company called BLS Cargo. This company handles all the freight trains, which means it moves goods instead of people. BLS Cargo works with another big freight company called Railion from Germany. Most of the people who work for BLS Cargo are actually employed by BLS AG. Some of the trains used for freight also belong to BLS Cargo.
Another company, BLS Fernverkehr AG, is fully owned by BLS AG. This part of the company is in charge of long-distance train trips for passengers.
Contents
Railway Tracks and Tunnels
BLS AG owns and manages a large network of railway tracks. In 2007, a very important new tunnel opened. It is called the Lötschberg Base Tunnel and is about 34.6 kilometers (21.5 miles) long. This tunnel is part of the 449 kilometers (279 miles) of railway lines that BLS AG looks after.
The Lötschberg Base Tunnel was built by a company called BLS AlpTransit AG. This company later gave the tunnel to BLS AG. In 2009, BLS AlpTransit AG changed its name to BLS Netz AG. Now, BLS Netz AG manages all the railway tracks and structures of BLS. The Swiss government owns most of BLS Netz AG because it paid for many of the new railway projects.
BLS AG uses or owns several important railway lines, including:
- Bern–Neuchâtel railway line
- Grenchenberg railway line
- Gürbetal railway line
- Hauenstein railway line
- Lake Thun railway line
- Lötschberg railway line
- Spiez–Erlenbach–Zweisimmen railway line
Trains and Locomotives
BLS AG has many different types of trains and locomotives (the engines that pull trains). These are called "rolling stock."
Some of the trains BLS AG uses for passengers include:
- BLS Re 420
- BLS Re 425
- BLS Re 465
- BLS RABe 515
- BLS RABe 525
- BLS RABe 526
- BLS RABe 528 (many more are being delivered)
- BLS RABe 535
- BLS RBDe 565
- BLS RBDe 566
BLS Cargo, the freight company, also has its own trains, such as:
- BLS Re 425
- BLS Re 456
- BLS Re 465
- BLS Re 475
- BLS Re 485
- BLS Re 486
- BLS Am 845
In 2010, BLS ordered 28 new Stadler KISS trains. The first one arrived in 2012. BLS plans to spend a lot of money by 2025 to get more new trains. This will help them have a more standard fleet with fewer different types of trains. In 2017, they ordered 58 more Stadler FLIRT trains, which are expected to start running between 2021 and 2026.
Passenger Train Services
Since the two companies joined, BLS has been the main operator of the S-Bahn Bern. The S-Bahn is like a city train system that connects Bern with nearby towns. BLS also runs trains on tracks owned by other companies, like Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).
Since December 2007, BLS offers a new type of train service called RegioExpress (RE). These trains use the older Lötschberg route. Meanwhile, the faster InterCity (IC) and EuroCity (EC) trains, run by SBB, use the newer Lötschberg Base Tunnel.
As of December 2023, BLS operates many different train services:
- S-Bahn Bern (local trains around Bern)
- S1 Fribourg/Freiburg – Bern – Thun
- S2 Laupen BE – Bern – Langnau i.E.
- S3 Biel/Bienne – Bern – Belp
- S4 Thun – Bern – Langnau i.E.
- S5 Bern – Kerzers – Neuchâtel / Murten (– Payerne)
- S6 Bern – Schwarzenburg
- S31 (Biel/Bienne – ) Lyss – Bern – Belp
- S44 Thun – Bern – Solothurn / Sumiswald-Grünen
- S51 Bern – Bern Brünnen Westside
- S52 Bern – Bern Brünnen Westside – Kerzers – Ins
- S-Bahn Luzern (local trains around Lucerne)
- S6 Langnau i.E. – Luzern
- S7 Langenthal – Luzern
- RegioExpress (RE) (faster regional trains)
- RE 1 Bern – Spiez – Kandersteg – Brig (– Domodossola)
- RE 2 Domodossola – Brig – Visp
- RE 7 Bern – Langnau i.E. – Luzern
- RE 8 Spiez – Zweisimmen
- RE 9 Spiez – Interlaken Ost
- RE 11 Biel/Bienne – Lyss – Spiez – Kandersteg – Brig
- Regional trains (R) (local trains)
- R 11 Spiez – Zweisimmen
- R 12 Spiez – Frutigen
- InterRegio (IR) (trains connecting regions)
Bern – Olten
Bern – Biel/Bienne
Bern – Neuchâtel – La Chaux-de-Fonds
- Car Shuttle Train (AV) (trains that carry cars through tunnels)
- AV 1 Brig – Iselle di Trasquera
- AV 2 Kandersteg – Iselle di Trasquera
- AV 3 Kandersteg – Goppenstein
BLS Busland
BLS Busland is a part of BLS that runs buses. They have 36 buses that travel on routes that connect with the train services. This helps people get to places where trains don't go. Their bus fleet includes:
- Mercedes-Benz Citaro
- Volvo B7L
BLS also owns and operates boats on two beautiful lakes: Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. These boats include old-fashioned steamers. They use special canals to reach the lakes, like the Interlaken and Thun ship canals.
- The Blümlisalp is a famous paddle steamer built in 1906.
See also
In Spanish: BLS AG para niños
