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The Bern railway company writes a deficit for 2021. Without federal aid, this would have been significantly higher.
In 2021, which was heavily influenced by the Covid 19 pandemic, the Bernese railway company BLS made a loss of 3.6 million francs.
The fact that the loss was not higher is thanks to the federal aid of around 32 million francs, which is intended to compensate for the pandemic losses.
Overall, the railways applied for support from the federal government for subsidized regional transport of 29.6 million francs, for the car transport on the Simplon 1.2 million francs and for shipping 1.3 million francs.
False subsidies repaid
BLS carried an average of 140,000 passengers per day last year. While that was more than 2020, passenger numbers on trains and ships were still 30 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
Despite this, the entire timetable was maintained throughout 2021.
As the BLS further announced, it has meanwhile fully repaid the federal subsidies for regional transport received between 2012 and 2018 without justification.