The operation of the Lötschberg base route
Intervention and rescue
In the event of an unforeseen emergency on the Lötschberg base section (e.g. in the event of fire) the train affected should, if possible, attempt to reach the emer-gency stop or the intervention points outside of the tunnel. If this is not possible, the passengers and train personnel can access a safe area in the parallel tube via one of the transverse tunnels and wait there for assistance. On the south side between St. German and Ferden, an evacuation can be performed via the second rail tunnel, while on the north side, passengers can be ferried between Frutigen and Ferden by means of buses.
The emergency services need to be able to reach the location of the incident within 45 minutes in order to initiate the rescue and emergency measures. The first port of call in such a scenario is the BLS firefighting and rescue train, which has a firefighting carriage, an equipment carriage and rescue vehicles to evacuate those at the scene of the emergency and is stationed in the BLS intervention centre in Frutigen. There is an additional SBB-operated intervention centre on the southern side of the base tunnel in Brig.
The intervention team is made up of the emergency services of the two rail operators BLS and SBB, with the support of the local fire brigades. A total of 160 fire- fighters and around 20 each of police officers, ambulance personnel and other managers in the cantons of Berne and Valais are trained to be able to operate in the Lötschberg base tunnel. In addition, some 90 bus drivers from the bus company Postauto AG Oberwallis can be called on to evacuate passengers from the tunnel.