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.
The Swiss rail network is noteworthy for its density, its coordination between services, its integration with other modes of transport, timeliness and a thriving domestic and trans-Alp freight system. It is made necessary by strong regulations on truck transport, and is enabled by properly coordinated intermodal logistics.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel through the Alps in Switzerland. It opened in June 2016 and full service began the following December. With a route length of 57.09 km (35.5 mi), it is the world's longest railway and deepest traffic tunnel and the first flat, low-level route through the Alps. It lies at the heart of the Gotthard axis and constitutes the third tunnel connecting the cantons of Uri and Ticino, after the Gotthard Tunnel and the Gotthard Road Tunnel.
The Gotthard Road Tunnel in Switzerland runs from Göschenen in the canton of Uri at its northern portal, to Airolo in Ticino to the south, and is 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) in length below the St Gotthard Pass, a major pass of the Alps. At time of construction, in 1980, it was the longest road tunnel in the world; it is currently the fifth-longest. Although it is a motorway tunnel, part of the A2 from Basel to Chiasso, it consists of only one bidirectional tube with two lanes. With a maximum elevation of 1,175 metres (3,855 ft) at the tunnel's highest point, the A2 motorway has the lowest maximum elevation of any direct north-south road through the Alps.
The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn is a narrow gauge railway line and a railway company in Switzerland. The track width is 1,000 mm. It was created in 2003 through an amalgamation of Furka Oberalp Bahn (FO) and BVZ Zermatt-Bahn (BVZ). The name comes from the Matterhorn and St. Gotthard Pass.
Bilfinger SE is a European multinational company specialized in civil and industrial construction, engineering and services based in Mannheim, Germany.
The Ceneri Base Tunnel is a Swiss railway base tunnel in the canton of Ticino. It passes under Monte Ceneri between Camorino in the Magadino Flat and Vezia near Lugano; it bypasses the former high-altitude rail route through the Monte Ceneri Tunnel. It is composed of two single-track tunnels, each 15.4 km (9.6 mi) long. It is part of the New Railway Link through the Alps (NRLA) project for faster north-south rail links across the Swiss Alps.
RUAG Holding is a Swiss company specialising in aerospace engineering and the defence industry. Its headquarters are located in Bern, while it also has numerous production sites in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Austria and United States, and sales companies in Australia, UK, France, Belgium, Brazil and Malaysia.
Ulrich "Ueli" Giezendanner is a Swiss businessman and former politician who served as a member of the National Council (Switzerland) for the Swiss People's Party from 1991 to 2019. He previously also served on the Grand Council of Aargau from 1989 to 1991. He remains a controlling shareholder in Giezendanner Group and serves as deputy chairman of KPT Health Insurance in Bern, Switzerland.
Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines, headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg. It is the worldwide market leader for heavy tunnel boring machines. Roughly two-thirds of its 5,000 employees work at the company's headquarters in the installation of hydraulic and electronic components and final inspection. Approximately 300 work at three locations across China. The company has 82 subsidiaries around the world and has worked on 2,600 projects.
Implenia is a Swiss real estate and construction services company with activities in development and civil engineering in Switzerland and Germany. Implenia is also active in tunneling and related infrastructure construction in Austria, France, Sweden, Norway and Italy. The Group was formed at the beginning of 2006 from the merger of Basel-based Batigroup Holding AG with Geneva-based Zschokke Holding SA. The headquarters are located in Glattpark (Opfikon) in the canton of Zurich. Implenia is one of the 500 largest companies in Switzerland.
BKW Energie AG is a power production and distribution utility with its headquarters in Bern, Switzerland. It also provides gas and heat through a number of subsidiaries or partner companies. It mainly operates in the canton of Bern, but is also present in Italy, Germany and Austria.
The Lötschberg line is a railway in Switzerland, connecting Spiez in the canton of Bern with Brig in the canton of Valais. It crosses the Bernese Alps, from the Bernese Oberland to Upper Valais, through the Lötschberg Tunnel in the middle of the line. Together with the Simplon Tunnel south of Brig, it constitutes one of the major railways through the Alps and an important north-south axis in Europe. The Lötschberg axis is backed by the lower and longer Lötschberg Base Tunnel, part of the New Railway Links through the Alps project.
The Swiss Central Railway was one of the five major private railway companies of Switzerland. The SCB with a track length of 332 kilometres was integrated into the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in 1902.
The construction and operation of Swiss railways during the 19th century was carried out by private railways. The first internal line was a 16 km line opened from Zürich to Baden in 1847. By 1860 railways connected western and northeastern Switzerland. The first Alpine railway to be opened was under the Gotthard Pass in 1882. A second alpine line was opened under the Simplon Pass in 1906.
Gruner AG, with headquarters in Basel, is a Swiss engineering services company. It has 21 subsidiaries at 33 sites in Switzerland, Europe and International. The business activities include project development, general planning and consultancy tasks in building construction and infrastructure development, safety consulting, renovation, project management and controlling. The Gruner Group has over 1000 employees from over 50 different professions.
VSL International is a specialist construction company founded in 1954. VSL contributes to engineering, building, repairing, upgrading and preserving transport infrastructure, buildings and energy production facilities. Based in Switzerland, VSL is owned by French construction company Bouygues.
Swiss Prime Site AG is one of the largest listed real estate companies in Europe. The fair value of the real estate under management is around CHF 26 billion. The portfolio of the company's own real estate has a value of around CHF 13 billion and consists primarily of commercial and retail properties in the most important Swiss metropolitan regions of the Central Plateau. In addition to the real estate investments, the Group companies Swiss Prime Site Solutions and Jelmoli make up the Services segment.
The Huttwil–Wolhusen railway line is a single-track standard-gauge railway line in Switzerland and currently operated by BLS AG. It was built by the Huttwil-Wolhusen-Bahn (HWB), based in Willisau, and opened on 9 May 1895. Operations were managed by the Langenthal-Huttwil-Bahn (LHB), which owned and operated the Langenthal–Huttwil railway. On 1 January 1944, the HWB was merged into the Vereinigte Huttwil-Bahnen, which was later merged into BLS AG.
The Marti Group is a Swiss construction company, consisting of over 80 subsidiaries, officially owned by Marti Holding AG. Besides Switzerland, they are active in neighboring countries such as Germany and Austria, and also outside of Europe such as China and Chile. The company is known for high-profile public and private sector projects and using innovative technologies. Their areas of expertise include building construction, construction and renovation of tunnels, road construction, hydraulic engineering, and other types of civil engineering.
