BLS Lötschbergbahn

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The BLS Kanderviaduct near Frutigen

The BLS Lötschbergbahn (BLS) was a railway company in Switzerland . It was created in 1997 through the merger of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn (BLS) with the co-operated railways Spiez-Erlenbach-Zweisimmen-Bahn (SEZ), Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (GBS) and Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn (BN ). With a standard-gauge network of 245 kilometers, it was one of the larger private railways in Switzerland. It maintained north-south traffic (goods and rolling autobahn) over the Lötschberg ( Lötschberg line ) and was responsible for regional traffic in the greater Bern area . She also operated shipping on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz . The canton of Bern held 65% of the shares in the AG in 2001, the Confederation 18% and municipalities and private individuals 17%. In June 2006, BLS Lötschbergbahn AG was merged with Regionalverkehr Mittelland (RM) to form the new BLS AG , with retroactive effect from January 1, 2006 ; the new company has been operational since June 27, 2006.

From 1913 until the merger, the four companies were operated uniformly as the BLS Group under the joint management of the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway. The three co-operated railways were also known as decree railways .

history

BLS group

Co-operated railways

The Ce 4/6 locomotives procured by all the railways that were also operated were referred to as "decree mills".

The oldest predecessor of the BLS Lötschbergbahn was the Bödelibahn (BB), which connected Lake Thun with Lake Brienz with the Därligen – Interlaken – Bönigen line, which was opened from 1872 to 1874. Until the opening of the Scherzligen – Därligen line of the Thunerseebahn (TSB) in 1893, the Bödelibahn was an isolated line with no connection to other railways. In 1900 the TSB bought the Bödelibahn, which had already temporarily leased its line to the TSB. From 1897 the TSB under the direction of the engineer Emil Auer took care of the operation of the Spiez-Erlenbach-Bahn (SEB), later also the Erlenbach-Zweisimmen-Bahn (EZB), the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn (BN), the Gürbetalbahn (GTB) ), the Spiez-Frutigen-Bahn (SFB) and the Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (BSB). In 1913, the TSB merged with the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn, which took over the management of the Dekretsbahnen.

These co-operated railways were legally independent companies with their own boards of directors. Because the BLS (and before it the TSB) took care of administration and operations and freely deployed staff and vehicles, the railways were called the BLS Group . Only the procurement of rolling stock had to be decided by the respective administrative boards, which is why individual differences could be identified. These railway companies were majority owned by the Canton of Bern , which, after the First World War, in the great coal shortage at the time, decided by government decree that the railways needed to be electrified and ordered the necessary locomotives, which gave the railways the nickname of Bern Decree Railways and the corresponding locomotives the name of Decree Mills entered.

In 1942 the SEB and EZB merged to form the Spiez-Erlenbach-Zweisimmen-Bahn (SEZ) and in 1944 the Gürbetalbahn and BSB to form the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn (GBS).

Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway

From 1959, the upgraded double locomotives Ae 8/8 heavy freight trains through the Lötschberg.

The Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway, which was opened continuously in 1913 and operated electrically from the start, was the first electrified Alpine full-line railway . It took over the SFB as early as 1907 and set up an electrical test facility on its route between Spiez and Frutigen. The centerpiece of the Lötschbergbahn was the 14.6 kilometer long Lötschberg tunnel between Kandersteg and Goppenstein. During its construction, water ingress into the tunnel, killing 25 workers, forced the tunnel to be changed.

From 1977 to 1991 the Lötschberg line was expanded to double-track.

BLS Lötschbergbahn

In 2004/05, BLS took over some Re 4/4 II from SBB. Re 420 503 in use on the south ramp in Lalden.

Towards the end of the 20th century, the environment around Europe's railways changed in such a way that it made it necessary to restructure the BLS Group. After the merger to form BLS Lötschbergbahn in 2000, SBB and BLS signed a basic agreement. Among other things, this stipulates that BLS will take over SBB regional transport ( S-Bahn Bern ) and the RegioExpress trains Bern-Lucerne and, in return, SBB will take over long-distance transport on the BLS network. The contract was implemented on December 12, 2004.

In 2001, a subsidiary, BLS Cargo AG, was founded together with Railion Deutschland AG and the freight forwarder Ambrogio from Italy . Above all, the company offers direct connections between France and Germany to Italy for freight traffic in the Alps. RAlpin AG offers the Rolling Autobahn for truck transport . Since it was founded, the company has multiplied BLS freight traffic from approx. 300 million NTkm to 2.8 billion NTkm (2005) and in 2006 achieved a market share of 40% in Alpine transit through Switzerland.

The subsidiary BLS AlpTransit AG concentrated on the construction of the Lötschberg base tunnel . In 2007, BLS was able to start traffic through the base tunnel.

Railway lines

route Length
km
opening electric
since
comment
Spiez-Brig 73.3 1901-1913 1910-1913 Lötschberg mountain route, two-lane
Wengi-Ey – Frutigen – St. German (–Visp) 40.0 2007 2007 Lötschberg base tunnel, St. German – Ferden two-lane
Thun – Spiez – Interlaken Ost 83.0 1872-1893 1915-1920 Thunerseebahn, Thun – Faulensee two-lane
Interlaken Ost – Bönigen   2.2 1874 1920 1969 Operation ceased, partially preserved as a siding to the Bönigen workshop
Spiez – Zweisimmen 34.9 1897-1915 1920 Simmentalbahn, formerly SEZ
Bern Holligen – Belp – Thun 34.5 1901-1902 1920 Gürbetalbahn, formerly GBS , partly two-lane
Bern – Neuchâtel 42.0 1901 1920-1928 formerly BN , partly two-lane
Bern Fischermätteli – Schwarzenburg 17.3 1907 1920 formerly GBS
Moutier-Lengnau 13.0 1915 1928 Grenchenberg tunnel

Rolling stock

Procured by BLS Lötschbergbahn

model series Manufacturer Construction year origin number of pieces Discarded Type Remarks
series Numbers total fusion
Electric locomotives
Re 420 501-506 SLM / BBC 1964-1967 SBB (2004) (Ex)0 12 12 ex SBB Re 4/4 II
507-512 SBB (2005)
Re 465 001-008 SLM / ABB 1994-1995 BLS 8th 18th Locomotive 2000
009-018 SLM / Adtranz 1996-1997 SBB (2003) (Ex)0 10
Re 485 001-020 BT 2002-2004 20th 20th Traxx F140 AC1
Electric multiple units / trains
RABe 525 001-008 Vevey / BT / Alstom 1998-1999 8th 36 Nina (3 pcs.)
009-014 2002 6th
015-032 2003-2004 18th
033-036 2004-2005 4th
Passenger cars
A 10-75 400-411 1985-1991 BLS 12 0 2004 EW IV sold to SBB
B 21-75 400-419 20th sold to SBB
420-422 1991 BT (1999) (Ex) 3 00 ex BT B 304-306; sold to SBB
Bt 80-35 990-996 1972-1975 SBB (2004) 7th 57 EW III
AD 81-34 000-006 7th
A 18-34 002-024 18th Conversion to Bt (2), B (3), ABS (2)
B 29-34 000-026 25th
B 22-35 600-615 2003-2004 16 16 B jumbo
Diesel locomotives
Em 845 001 LEW 1982/2002 DB (2002) 1 0 2003 V 60.10 ex DB 105 164
On 845 002 Vossloh 2003 1 1 G 1000 BB rented from ATC
Shunting locomotives and tractors
Tm 235 099 STAG 1996 BLS 2 0 2006
100 1
Ub = takeover from outside stock (used vehicle); Um = conversion from our own stock

Procured from previous railways

→ Section rolling stock (selection) in the article Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn

literature

  • Florian Inäbnit, Jürg Aeschlimann: Bern – Neuchâtel Railway. The BLS line from Bern to Neuchâtel. Prellbock Druck & Verlag, Leissigen 2001, ISBN 3-907579-18-6 .
  • Ulf Degener: New ways in Alpine transit. Reorientation at the BLS Lötschbergbahn. In: LOK MAGAZINE. GeraNova, Munich 41 / 2002,255, ISSN  0458-1822 . Pp. 25-26.
  • Kilian T. Elsasser, Stephan Appenzeller (eds.): Pioneer Railway on the Lötschberg. The history of the Lötschbergbahn. AS-Verlag, Zurich 2013. ISBN 978-3-906055-06-0 .

Web links

Commons : BLS Lötschbergbahn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + . AS Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9 .
  2. Weissenbach, Placid: The railway system of Switzerland first part: The history of the railway system . 1st edition. Europäische Hochschulverlag, Bremen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8457-2044-9 , pp. 224 f .
  3. Bern – Lötschberg – Simplon. In: Via Storia, Center for Transport History. University of Bern, accessed on April 15, 2017 .