Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn

The Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn (BLS), known between 1997 and 2006 as the BLS Lötschbergbahn, was a Swiss railway company. In 2006 the company merged with Regionalverkehr Mittelland AG to form a new company called BLS AG.

This article is about the former railway company that existed between 1906 and 2006. For the company that succeeded it in 2006, see BLS AG. For the railway line between Spiez and Brig, see Lötschberg railway line.

Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn
BLS Re 4/4 class on the Lötschberg ramp
Overview
Dates of operation1913–2006
PredecessorLake Thun railway
Bern–Neuchâtel railway
Gürbetal–Bern–Schwarzenburg railway
Spiez–Erlenbach-Zweisimmen railway
SuccessorBLS AG
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification15 kV, 16⅔ Hz, AC

BLS owned the largest standard gauge network on the Swiss Railway system apart from the Swiss Federal Railways. The railway had not been built at the time that the Federal government took control of the five big Swiss standard gauge railway companies in 1902 and so it led a separate existence, being considered the largest of the Swiss "private" railways, although the majority of its capital was owned by the cantonal government of Bern, with the Confederation holding about one fifth.

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