Privacy policy BLS Cargo Ltd

A. Purpose 

This privacy policy informs you about what we do with your data when you visit blscargo.eu, or other websites we operate (hereinafter collectively referred to as "website"), make use of our services, are otherwise associated with us within the scope of a contract, communicate with us, or have any other dealings with us. Where necessary, you will receive prompt written communication from us about additional processing activities not mentioned in this privacy policy. In addition, we can inform you separately about the processing of your data, e.g., in declarations of consent, contractual conditions, additional privacy policies, forms, and notices. By accessing our websites and the information, services and products contained therein, you agree to the following terms and conditions.

The information contained on the website is provided by BLS Cargo Nord NV for information purposes. BLS Cargo Nord NV reserves the right to modify and/or adapt this website at any time and without prior notice. It also reserves the right to restrict or temporarily suspend the operating hours of the website for technical reasons. The information published on the website constitutes neither an offer nor a recommendation to purchase products and services or to conclude any legal transaction. Exceptions to this principle are expressly noted on the website.

B. Copyright 

The entire content of the BLS Cargo website is protected by copyright. The intellectual property rights (in particular the copyright and trademark rights) to all elements on this website - in particular the word, image and acoustic trademarks and logos contained therein - belong exclusively and comprehensively to BLS Cargo. The copyrights of third parties are reserved. If the material or parts thereof are reproduced in full or in part in any form - electronically or in writing - BLS Cargo must be expressly named as the author or holder of the corresponding rights. Reproduction, transmission, modification, linking or use of the websites for public or commercial purposes is only permitted with the prior written consent of BLS Cargo

C. Corporate responsibility 

BLS Cargo AG, Bollwerk 27, 3001 Bern, is responsible under data protection law for the data processing described in this data protection declaration - unless otherwise communicated in individual cases, e.g. in other data protection declarations, on forms or in contracts.

However, unless otherwise communicated, this privacy policy also applies to cases in which not BLS Cargo AG but a subsidiary of BLS Cargo, such as BLS Cargo Nord (Nordersingel 21, B-2140 Borgerhout (Antwerp) and BLS Cargo Italia Srl (Località Scalo Ferroviario Domo II; I-28851 Beura-Cardezza (VB) is the controller. This is especially the case where your data is processed by such a group company in connection with their own legal obligations or contracts. In such cases, this group company is the responsible party. BLS Cargo remains your primary contact, even if other co-responsible parties exist.

You can contact us as follows for your data protection concerns and to exercise your rights in accordance with section 10:

BLS Ltd. / BLS Cargo Ltd.
Legal / Data Protection
Fribourgstrasse 130, 3001 Berne 
datenschutz@!zilch!bls.ch

In addition, we have appointed the following data protection representative in the EU in accordance with Art. 27 GDPR:

BLS Cargo North NV 
Data Protection Officer
Nordersingel 21
B-2140 Borgerhout (Antwerp)
dpo@!zilch!blscargo.be

BLS Cargo Italia
Responsabile della protezione dei dati
Località Scalo Ferroviario Domo II
I-28851 Beura-Cardezza
dpo.blsci@!zilch!bls.ch

D. Data processing by BLS Cargo

1. For the use of our website 

When visiting our website, the servers of our hosting provider temporarily save each access as log data. 
The data is collected on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the technically error-free presentation and optimisation of its website. The following technical data is collected in this context:

• IP address of the accessing device
• date and time of access
• URL accessed
• Access status/HTTP status code
• If available, the referrer (referring page)
• Volume of data transferred during access
• Browser identification (browser name and version)

The collection and processing of these data contribute to system security and stability and error and performance analysis, which enables our hosting provider to optimise our internet offering. In addition, this enables us to configure our website in accordance with the specific target group, i.e. to provide targeted content or information that may be of interest to you. 

The IP address, together with other data, will be evaluated for the purposes of clarification and defence in the event of attacks on the network infrastructure or other prohibited or improper use and, if necessary, used in criminal proceedings to identify and take civil and criminal action against the users in question.

Finally, when you visit our websites, we use cookies in addition to applications and tools that are based on the use of cookies. More detailed information can be found in the sections on cookies, tracking tools, advertising and plug-ins of this privacy policy.

We can make no guarantee for compliance with data protection regulations for external web pages that are linked to our website.

2. When contacting us by e-mail, telephone or fax

If you contact us by e-mail, your enquiry including all personal data resulting from it (surname, first name, e-mail, telephone number, address, enquiry, etc.) will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of processing your request. We do not pass on this data without your consent. This data is processed on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR if your enquiry is related to the fulfilment of a contract or is necessary for the implementation of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the processing is based on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR) and/or on our legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR), as we have a legitimate interest in the effective processing of the enquiries addressed to us. The data you send to us via contact requests will remain with us until you ask us to delete it, revoke your consent to storage or the purpose for data storage no longer applies (e.g. after your request has been processed). Mandatory statutory provisions - in particular statutory retention periods - remain unaffected.

The following privacy policy applies when contacting the BLS Cargo North Traffic Centre by telephone.

3. Privacy policy for applications

You can apply to us by e-mail or post. The following privacy policy applies to applications:

Privacy policy applications BLS Cargo Group | BLS Cargo

4. Will your data be passed on to third parties?

We will pass on your personal data to third parties in Switzerland and abroad in connection with our contracts, the website, our products and services, our legal obligations or for the protection of our legitimate interests and the other listed purposes. The third parties include the following categories of recipients in particular:

• Group companies: You can find a list of group companies here. Group companies may use the data in accordance with this privacy policy for the same purposes as we do.
• Service providers: We work with service providers in Switzerland and abroad who process data about you on our behalf or under joint responsibility with us or who receive data about you from us under their own responsibility (e.g. IT providers, providers of tracking tools and market research (satisfaction surveys)). Our central service providers in the area of IT management are Microsoft Ireland Operation Limited.
• Authorities: We may forward personal data to government departments, courts or other authorities in Switzerland and abroad if we are legally obliged or authorised to do so or if we deem this necessary in the protection of our legitimate interests. The authorities are solely responsible for any processing of the data about you that they receive from us.

5. Will your data be disclosed abroad?

As explained in Clause 3, we also disclose your data to other organisations. These organisations are not exclusively based in Switzerland. Consequently, your data may be processed in Europe. 

6. How long will your data be stored?

We store personal data only for as long as is necessary to perform the services that you have requested or to which you have given your consent to the extent that is laid out in this privacy policy;

7. Data security

To protect your personal data that we have stored, we operate suitable technical and organisational security measures against manipulation, partial or total loss and unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are subject to continuous improvement in line with technological developments. We also take internal data protection very seriously. Our employees and external service providers commissioned by us are obliged to maintain confidentiality and comply with data protection regulations. We take reasonable precautions to protect your data. However, the transmission of information via the internet and other electronic means is always subject to certain security risks, and we can offer no guarantee for the security of information that is transmitted in this way.

8. How are tracking & analytics tools used?

We use web analytics services for the purpose of designing and continuously optimising our website to meet needs. 

Our legitimate interest in the use of the cookies listed below in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR is to make our website more user-friendly, effective and secure.

Tracking on internet pages
In connection with our internet pages, pseudonymised usage profiles are created and small text files ("cookies") stored on your computer are used (see "What are cookies and when are they used?" below). The information generated by cookies about your use of this website is transmitted to the servers of the providers of these services, stored there and processed for us. In addition to the data listed above (see "What data is processed when you use our internet pages?"), we thereby obtain the following information ("raw logs"):

• IP address of the accessing device
• Optional user ID
• Random unique visitor ID
• Location of the user: country, region, city, approximate latitude and longitude (geolocation)
• Time of this user's first visit
• Time of this user's last visit
• Number of visits of this user
• date and time of access
• Access status/HTTP status code
• If available, the referrer (referring page)
• Volume of data transferred during access
• Browser identification (browser name and version)
• Main language of the browser used (Accept-Language header)
• Title of the accessed page (Page title)
• URL of the accessed page (Page URL)
• URL of the page that was accessed before the current page (Referrer URL)
• Screen resolution used
• Files that were clicked and downloaded (Download)
• Links to an external domain that were clicked (outlink)
• Page generation time (the time it takes the web server to generate the pages and then download them from the user:  Page speed)
• User-agent of the browser used (User-agent header). Based on the user-agent, we use our universal device recognition library to identify the browser, operating system, device used (desktop, tablet, mobile, TV, car, console, etc.), make and model.  

The information is used to evaluate the use of the web pages. The raw server logs are deleted daily by default, so the access data they contain is no more than 24 hours old.

We currently use the following tracking and analytics tool: Matomo (Piwik) JavaScript Tracker is GDPR compliant and is operated on the OpsOne server in Switzerland.

9. What are cookies and when are they used?

We use cookies in certain cases. Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit or use one of our websites. Cookies store certain settings about your browser and data about exchanges with the website through your browser. When a cookie is activated, it can be assigned an identification number that identifies your browser and allows the information contained in the cookie to be used. You can configure your browser to display a warning on the screen before saving a cookie. You can also choose not to take advantage of personal cookies. Certain services cannot be used in this case.

We use cookies to evaluate general user behaviour. The aim is to optimise the digital presences. These are to be made easier to use and the content more intuitive to find. The aim is to structure them in a more comprehensible way. It is important to us to make the digital presences user-friendly according to your needs. This allows us to optimise the website by providing targeted content or information on the website that may be of interest to you.

When visiting our website, you can accept or reject the analytics cookies. 

Disabling cookies may result in you not being able to use all the functions of our website. 

Insofar as the EU GDPR is applicable, our legitimate interest forms the legal basis for this processing of personal data.

10. What are plug-ins and how are they used?

On our website, you can use the plugins listed below:

• Facebook: For users based in Europe, the responsible entity for operating the platform is Facebook Ireland Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. Their privacy policy can be found here.
• Instagram: For users based in Europe, the responsible entity for operating the platform is Facebook Ireland Ltd., Dublin, Ireland. Their privacy policy can be found here.
• LinkedIn: For users based in Europe, the responsible entity for operating the platform is LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Dublin, Ireland. Their privacy policy can be found here.

Plugins are used to make our internet pages more personal. The plugins are disabled by default on our internet pages and therefore do not send any data to the social networks. You can activate all plugins by clicking on the "Activate plugins" button (so-called 2-click solution). The plugins can, of course, be deactivated again with one click.

If the plugins are activated, your browser will establish a direct connection with the servers of the respective social network as soon as you access our website. The content of the plugin is transmitted directly to your browser by the social network and integrated into the website by it.

By integrating the plugins, the respective provider receives the information that your browser has accessed the corresponding page of our website, even if you do not have an account with this social network or are not currently logged in to it. This information (including your IP address) is transmitted from your browser directly to a server of the provider (usually in the USA) and stored there. We therefore have no influence on the scope of the data that the provider collects with the plug-in.

If you are logged in to the social network, it can assign the visit to our website directly to your user account. If you interact with the plug-ins, the corresponding information will also be transmitted directly to a server of the provider and stored there. The information can also be published on the social network and, under certain circumstances, may be displayed to other users of the social network.

The provider of the social network may use this information for the purposes of advertising, market research, and to customise the design of the respective offering. For this purpose, usage, interest and relationship profiles could be created, for example, to evaluate your use of our website with regard to the advertisements displayed to you on the social network, to inform other users about your activities on our website and to provide other services associated with the use of the social network.

The purpose and scope of the data collection and further processing and use of data by the providers of the social networks and the relevant rights and settings to protect your privacy can be found in the data protection information of the relevant providers.

If you do not want the provider of the social network to assign the data collected via our website to your user account, you must log out of the social network before activating the plugins.

Insofar as the EU GDPR is applicable, our legitimate interest forms the legal basis for this processing of personal data.

11. What rights do you have?

With regard to your personal data, you have the following rights:

• You can request information about your stored personal data.
• You can request a correction, completion, restriction of use, or deletion of your personal data. The use of data will be restricted rather than deleting the data outright if there are legal obstacles to deletion (for example, legal obligations to retain data).
• You may request that we provide certain personal data in a commonly used electronic format or transfer it to another controller.
• You can decline the use of your data for marketing and market research purposes.
• You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future.
• In the case of automated, individual decisions, you have the right to express your point of view and request that the decision in question be reviewed by a natural person.

If you wish to exercise the above-mentioned rights against us or one of our group companies, please contact us in writing or send us an email; our contact information can be found in Section B. In order for us to rule out any potential misuse, we must identify you (e.g. with a copy of your ID, if this is not possible via any other method).

If you do not agree with our handling of your rights or data protection, please communicate this to us. In particular, if you are located in the EEA, in the United Kingdom or in Switzerland, you also have the right to complain to the data protection supervisory authority within your country.

A list of the authorities in the EEA can be found here. 

You can contact the supervisory authority of the United Kingdom here. 

You can contact the Swiss supervisory authority here. 

12. Changes to the privacy policy

Changes to this privacy policy may be necessary from time to time. BLS Cargo reserves the right to amend this privacy policy at any time with effect from a future date.  The version published on this website is the currently applicable version.

E. Updates 

Last updated January 2026. The privacy policy has been translated into various languages. In the event of any linguistic discrepancies, the German version shall prevail.