Geschichte

BLS Foundation

The historic heritage of BLS

While, in 1913, as steam locomotives hauled freight trains over the Gotthard Pass at a speed of 26 km per hour, on the Lötschberg line the strongest electric locomotives in the world pulled passenger and freight trains at 50 km per hour through the mountains. In the 1930s, BLS purchased its first six light railcars and in 1944 procured the AE 4/4 – the world’s first full-adhesion high-performance locomotive. It falls to the non-profit BLS Foundation to maintain this unique historical heritage and allow people to continue enjoying it today. The Foundation’s primary task lies in the collection, maintenance and presentation of the pioneering work in electric traction done by BLS and its predecessor companies.
 It is based in the centrally situated depot of the former Emmental railway in Burgdorf.

About the Foundation

Board of Trustees

Martin Leu (President), Strategic Project Manager BLS AG
Hans Flury (Vice-President), former Head of Finance and Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of BLS Ltd
Barbara Studer Immenhausen, State Archivist of Canton Bern
Markus Barth, Managing Director of railcoach.ch GmbH
Bruno Jenni, Team Leader Controlling, Railway operations BLS AG
Markus Giger, research associate at Federal the Federal Office of Transport FOT

Operational management

Hans-Peter Ernst, Managing Director

Volunteers

The volunteers with the BLS Foundation apply their professional skills to ensuring that the vehicles are ready for operation and the collections are accessible. Their commitment is an essential component of the Foundation’s work.