Furrer+Frey
Furrer+Frey AG is a Swiss developer and builder of overhead contact line systems and rail charging infrastructure, headquartered in Bern and family-owned since its founding in 1923.
The company was founded in 1923 by engineers Emil Furrer and Arnold Frey to support the electrification of Switzerland’s railways. It remains an independent family business, led since 2017 by fourth-generation CEO Rico Furrer.
According to the company, it employs around 340 people worldwide and serves customers in more than 30 countries. Beyond the Bern headquarters, it operates Swiss branches in Zurich, Bellinzona, Montreux and Brig, plus a workshop and warehouse in Gwatt-Thun, with subsidiaries in Berlin, Nottingham, Rome, Foshan and New Delhi.
Products and services
Furrer+Frey develops, plans, builds and maintains catenary and overhead line equipment for main-line, suburban, mountain and narrow-gauge railways, covering supply voltages from 600 V to 25 kV. Its portfolio includes the FL 200 and FL 260 catenary systems for speeds up to 200 km/h and beyond, as well as trolleybus equipment.
A core product is the rigid overhead conductor rail, first installed in 1984. The system clamps the contact wire in a rigid aluminium profile and is used primarily in tunnels and other confined spaces where conventional catenary cannot fit.
Engineering services span laser scanning and aerial survey of existing installations, contract management, maintenance and fault repair. Design work is carried out in ELFF, the company’s 3D planning tool for overhead contact lines.
Charging infrastructure
Alongside conventional electrification of track and infrastructure, Furrer+Frey builds charging stations for electric buses, light rail and regional trains. Its VOLTTAP fast-charging station, developed with the German municipal utility Stadtwerke Tübingen, charges battery-electric multiple units via the pantograph from a short section of conductor rail.
Following a Europe-wide tender won in 2022, German operator Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn selected the system for four charging locations in Brandenburg — Beeskow, Templin, Werneuchen and Wriezen — to serve 31 battery trains on the East Brandenburg network.
Current activity
In Switzerland, the company replaced the existing catenary in the Vereina Tunnel and at Rhaetian Railway loading stations with its rigid conductor rail system, commissioning 26 km of overhead conductor rail in November 2025 after working exclusively during nightly closures under live operating conditions. It is also planning and building the overhead line for the new tram connection from Bern to Ostermundigen for the operator BERNMOBIL.
Furrer+Frey will exhibit at InnoTrans in Berlin, 22–25 September 2026.
