The Bernese Oberland Railway (BOB), which transports its passengers from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, generated a transport revenue of 15.0 million Swiss francs in 2018, especially thanks to strong traffic to the Jungfraujoch, an increase of 8.1 per cent compared to the record set the previous year. At 4.1 million Swiss francs, the Schynige Platte Railway achieved the highest transport revenue in its history. It is 20.7 per cent higher than the transport income of the 2017 season. In the reporting year, 127,000 guests travelled on the Schynige Platte Railway (from Schynige Platte), an increase of 8.1 per cent on the previous year.
Important renovations
In 2018, Berner Oberland-Bahnen AG invested three million Swiss francs in the construction of the Grindelwald Terminal. The direct public transport connection to the terminal of the V-Cableway is an important part of the generation project. In Wilderswil, the central control centre, which is taking over dispatcher duties for the entire Jungfrau Railways, was put into operation. In the reporting year, BOB invested 1.2 million Swiss francs in the central control centre. Furthermore, the western development of the Interlaken Ost railway station underwent a qualitative improvement for guests and locals.
Amounts in CHF (1000s) | 2018 | 2017 | Change in per cent |
Transport revenue, Berner Oberland-Bahn | 14,989 | 13,870 | 8.1% |
Transport revenue, Schynige Platte-Bahn | 4,083 | 3,384 | 20.7% |
Compensation | 17,450 | 16,849 | 3.6% |
| | | |
Total operating income | 42,749 | 40,015 | 6.8% |
Total operating expenses | -29,079 | -27,873 | 4.3% |
EBITDA | 13,670 | 12,142 | 12.6% |
Annual profit | 2,093 | 2,748 | -23.8% |
Outlook
The focus in the summer season 2019 is the qualitative upgrading of the Schynige Platte destination. On 3 July 2019, together with Marc Trauffer and Francine Jordi, new summit attractions will be opened aimed at international and Swiss guests.
Ready for the V-Cableway
As a strategic partner of the V-Cableway project, Berner Oberland-Bahnen AG was able to begin construction of the Grindelwald Terminal in the summer of 2018. The new station with direct access to the Grindelwald Grund terminal will be put into operation at the same time as the new 10-passenger Grindelwald-Männlichen gondola cableway on 14 December 2019. Sales counters and toilet facilities in the terminal will also be available to guests. The full opening of the terminal together with the Eiger Express tricable gondola of Jungfraubahn Holding AG will take place on 12 December 2020.
With the realisation of the V-Cableway project, the journey by public transport to the Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe) and the ski area is significantly reduced. The attractiveness of rail compared with road will be significantly increased.
The Berner Oberland-Bahnen AG annual report is published under the following link: https://www.jungfrau.ch/geschaeftsbericht-bob-2018/.
