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.
Swiss Federal Railways is the national railway company of Switzerland.
Rail transport in Switzerland is noteworthy for the density of its network, 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.
Starting in 1959, the SBB motor coach of the type RBe 4/4 was for a replacement of the old SBB electric locomotives Ae 3/6 I, Ae 3/6 II, Ae 3/6 III and SBB Ae 3/5 with three driving axles. As a consequence, they had much power at their disposal, even more than the Re 4/4 I locomotives, a regenerative brake, cabs on both ends with doors to passenger carriages as well as Multiple-unit train control SBB Vst IIId for multiple-unit or driving trailer. They originally motor coach had 64 seats, 32 smoking and 32 non-smoking, and were painted in ordinary SBB green.
A control car, cab car, control trailer, or driving trailer is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartments with all the controls and gauges required to remotely operate the locomotive, including exterior locomotive equipment such as horns, bells, ploughs, and lights. They also have communications and safety systems such as GSM-R or European Train Control System (ETCS). Control cars enable push-pull operation when located on the end of a train opposite its locomotive by allowing the train to reverse direction at a terminus without moving the locomotive or turning the train around.
The Ae 6/6 is a class of heavy electric locomotive used by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). It is sometimes also referred to as "canton locomotive", because the first 25 locomotives were named after the cantons of Switzerland and carried the canton's coat of arms on the side and chrome embellishments, and the Swiss coat of arms on the front, between the chrome stripes. These adornments made them internationally famous. The other 95 (94) locomotives received the names of capital cities of Swiss cantons, and other towns and cities, but without the chrome embellishments. The namings were held as ceremonies in the respective cities. A less flattering moniker is Schienenwolf as the three axle bogie construction stresses the tracks heavily.
The Re 620, Re 6/6 in the old numbering scheme, are six-axle, electric locomotives of Swiss Federal Railways, which were acquired as a replacement for the Ae 6/6 for heavy services on the Gotthard Railway. They were produced between 1972 and 1980 and are the most modern of the so-called "Gotthard locomotives".
The Re 420, originally and still widely called Re 4/4II, are a series of versatile standard gauge electric locomotives of Swiss Federal Railways, but are also used by BLS AG and private companies. They were produced over a period of 21 years, from 1964 to 1985, and are currently used mainly for freight operations but still also for some push-pull passenger train services. It is the largest series of locomotives of Swiss Federal Railways and they are the most common type of locomotive in Switzerland.
BLS AG is a Swiss railway company created by the 2006 merger of BLS Lötschbergbahn and Regionalverkehr Mittelland AG. Its ownership is divided, with 55.8% of it owned by the canton of Berne, and 21.7% by the Swiss Confederation. It has two main business fields: passenger traffic and infrastructure.
For more than a century, the Swiss locomotive, multiple unit, motor coach and railcar classification system, in either its original or updated forms, has been used to name and classify the rolling stock operated on the railways of Switzerland. It started out as a uniform system for the classification and naming of all rolling stock, powered and unpowered, but had been replaced and amended by the UIC classification of goods wagons.
The Ae 4/7 was a universal locomotive of the Swiss Federal Railways, employing the so-called Buchli drive.
The Stadler KISS is a family of bilevel electric multiple unit commuter trains developed and built since 2008 by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. As of 2016, 242 KISS trainsets comprising 1,145 cars have been sold to operators in eleven countries. Boarding is done into the lower deck.
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 Re 450 is a push-pull electric locomotive of Swiss Federal Railways, which combined with passenger coaches is only used for commuter rail services of Zurich S-Bahn in the metropolitan area of Zurich. Under the old Swiss class system, they would have been known as Re 4/4V.
Midi E 3301 was a prototype electric locomotive of Class E 3300 designed for the Chemins de fer du Midi, France. Because of poor performance, it was refused by the Compagnie du Midi and was re-deployed to Swiss railways. On 1 May 1919, it was classified Fb 2/5 11001 and, in 1920, it became experimental locomotive Be 2/5 11001 of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).
The Bern–Thun railway line is a double-tracked, electrified railway line that runs through the Aare valley in the Swiss canton of Bern. It is part of the Lötschberg-Simplon axis between Germany and Italy. It was opened in 1859 by the Swiss Central Railway.
The Basel–Biel/Bienne railway line is a standard gauge railway line of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and the BLS AG. It runs from Basel SBB along the Birs in the French-speaking Jura to Delémont and Biel/Bienne. The traffic on the line is shown in table 230 of the official timetable.
The Flamatt–Laupen–Gümmenen railway line is a line in Switzerland that was built and formerly operated by the Sense Valley Railway. The 11.5 km-long standard-gauge line on the Flamatt–Laupen–Gümmenen route through the Sense valley was opened on 20 January 1904. The shares of the company were acquired by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Swiss Post (34 %) in 2001. Since then, the infrastructure of the Sense Valley Railway has been operated by the SBB under contract.
The BLS RABe 528, also known as MIKA, is a class of passenger electric multiple unit manufactured by Stadler Rail for BLS AG. It is a derivative of the Stadler FLIRT and began entering service in 2021. It is comparable to the Traverso of Südostbahn.
The BLS RABe 515, also known as MUTZ, is a class of bilevel electric multiple units manufactured by Stadler Rail for BLS AG. It is a second-generation derivative of the Stadler KISS. Formations are composed of four or six cars. They were the first bilevel cars used by BLS.
