In the next time, we will closely follow which BLS Cargo locomotives have the new Alpinisten stickers. For now, we only know the 485 006 and 009. (we mistakingly stated 005 and 009 in the Railcolor weekly news). Keep your eyes open, thanks!

An interesting train to see, with three locomotives, with one with new stickers. BLS Cargo 485 009 now has the new -Alpinisten- vinyls on its side, like we have seen before on 485 005. The locomotive, a Hector Rail 151, and the freight train are being pulled by a diesel locomotive. It is a north-south corridor freight train taking a detour as the line Karlsruhe - Basel is closed. Photo: Michael Goll

On 16.02.2017 the news was published that SNCF Logistics, responsible for logistics and freight transport within the SNCF Group, as been selected by BLS Cargo as its new partner. SNCF Logistics will acquire 45% of the shares in BLS Cargo, if the deal is approved by the competition authorities. BLS remains the majority shareholder with a 52% share. The remaining 3% is property of the Ambrogio Group (IMT).

The complete press statement (in German) here.

BLS Cargo has removed the 'Alpinist' portrait from locomotive 485 003. The picture above was taken on 05.02.2017 in Spiez (CH). It was the only locomotive from the series that had these stickers, similar to those applied on the BLS 486.5 series. The 485 003 has this different livery since 2008.

This week in Austria: BLS Cargo 485 003 has taken the place of Railpool 186 433 in the tests with Bombardier 187 010(II). Green and red together in Wiener Neustadt on 11.08.2015. (Herbert Pschill)

BLS Cargo has many different Traxx locomotives in its fleet (AC1, AC2, AC3, MS), so a lot of experience with Bombardier products. For comparison, the operator tested Siemens Vectron locomotives and the BB37000 of Alstom in the November. Time for evaluation and negotiation! BLS Cargo Traxx AC1 BLS Cargo TRAXX MS2e

This has consequences for the disposition of several modern locomotives. The number of locomotives available for Transalp services from the Netherlands to Italy is limited. BLS Cargo does not own such locomotives itself, and is not planning to retrofit any, so it had to look elsewhere.
Finally, BLS Cargo closed a deal with railCare, the rail operating subsidiary of Swiss retailer Coop. Since 2012, they hire Railpool 186 104, 105, 108 and 109 with Transalp-package (in 2013, Railpool additionally hired 186 101 to railCare). However, railCare only operates trains in Switzerland, so locomotives with such an extensive country specific package are not a neccesssity. Therefore BLS Cargo has offered railCare a batch of its [edit] 465 series locomotives instead: 465 015-018. The fifth locomotive will be a Re425 series engine. [/edit] They will replace the Railpool 186s, that will be hired to BLS Cargo for the ERSR deal. - PT/EvA

From October 2013 until the 2013/2014 time table change, the Railpool 186s will be exchanged. [edit] Most likely the 186s will loose their diamond/minirals/crystal-stickers [edit]

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