Bergensbanen

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Map of the Bergensbanen and principal stations

The Bergensbanen on the Hardangervidda near Finse. The track shown here is an abandoned section of the line, which now runs through a tunnel.

Freight train about to enter the Finse tunnel

The ceremony at the completion of the track.

The Bergensbanen - the railway between Bergen and Oslo in Norway - is the highest mainline railway line in Europe and one of the most spectacular, crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at over 1200 meters (4000 feet) above sea level.

The overland route between Bergen and eastern Norway crosses the harsh and inhospitable Hardangervidda plateau, which stands between the western fjords and the interior. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and, as early as 1870, proposals were raised for a railway to connect it to the capital. There were several possible routes for the line and it was not until 1894 that the final decision was made by the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. Only the first stretch of the line, from Voss to Taugevatn, was initially authorised, with the rest being authorised in 1898.

The construction of the line was exceptionally challenging. It had to be laid high above sea level, in a region without roads and with a climate that saw many feet of snow in the winter and temperatures far below freezing. Tunnels and cuttings had to be excavated through solid gneiss, with one tunnel alone - that at Gravhals - taking six years to build, mostly by hand.

The line from Voss to Myrdal was opened in the summer of 1906, with the full line opening for passenger traffic on 27 November 1909. King Haakon VII stated upon the opening of the Bergenbanen that this was the Norwegian engineering masterpiece of his generation. Readers of Norwegian Technology Weekly (Teknisk Ukeblad) voted the Bergensbanen the fifth greatest Norwegian engineering masterpiece of the 20th Century. Steam engines ran on the line until 1957 but in 1964 the line was converted to electric traction.

The Bergensbanen runs for a total length of 493 km with 182 tunnels, totalling approximately 73 km. The longest single tunnel on the line is that at Finse, just over 13 km long. The line crosses 300 bridges spanning numerous rivers and streams. The highest station on the line (and the highest mainline station in Europe) is at Finse, 1222.2 meters above sea level. The line's highest point was Taugevatn near Finse, at 1300 meters, until Finsetunellen opened in 1993; it is now inside this tunnel, at 1237 meters. It takes a total of 6-7 hours to travel the full length of the line. The line has a maximum gradient of 1:46.5 on the Voss-Myrdal stretch. It is kept open all year round, although not without some difficulty due to the heavy snowfall experienced on the Hardangervidda; in 1967, railway workers had to clear 67 feet (20.4m) of snow from the line.

The line is today a popular tourist attraction, as well as a busy intercity route. It provides an essential link to the Hardangervidda and is especially popular with hikers and cyclists. The old railway workers' road, the Rallarvegen (navvy road), runs alongside the line and can be cycled in a day; the Norwegian State Railway provides rental bicycles from depots at Finse and other points along the line. At Myrdal, a spectacular 20 km-long branch line, Flåmsbana, leads down to Flåm.

[edit] Bergensbanen stations

Upward gradient diagram of the Bergensbanen

[edit] Further reading

• Bergensbanen, Bjørn Holøs, Gyldendal/NSB (ISBN 82-05-19349-5)