Flåmsbana

Flåm – Myrdal
Flåmsbana logo on an electric locomotive
Course book range :	NSB 42
Route length:	20.20 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV, 16.7 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	55  ‰
Minimum radius :	130 m
Top speed:	40 km / h
Legend 0.00 Flam 2  moh. 1.60 Lunden 16 moh. 2.99 Håreina 48 moh. Furuberget Tunnel (424.0 m) Spælemyren tunnel (l24.6 m) 6.30 Dalsbotn 200 moh. Lower Dalsbotntunnel (206.6 m) Upper Dalsbotntunnel (154.3 m) Høga tunnel (59.2 m) Høga Bridge Timberheller Tunnel (172.6 m) Geithus tunnel (139.2 m) 9.69 Berekvam 345 moh. Sjølskott tunnel (39.2 m) Reppa tunnel (132.9 m) Melhusgjelet tunnel (11.1 m) Melhus tunnel (177.5 m) 11.80 Blomheller 458 moh. Blomheller Tunnel (1029.6 m) 13.86 Kårdal 557 moh. Nåli tunnel (1341.5 m) Kjosfoss tunnel (478.4 m) 15.80 Kjosfossen 670 moh. Bakli Tunnel (195.1 m) (22.7 m) (14.0 m) Vatnahalsen spiral tunnel (888.6 m) 18.00 Reinunga 767 moh. 19.07 Vatnahalsen 811 moh. Lower top tunnel (79.9 m) Upper Toppen Tunnel (101.4 m) Bergensbanen from Oslo 20.20 Myrdal 866 moh. to Bergen

Flåmsbana is a single - track, standard - gauge branch line of the Norwegian Bergen Railway . It leads from the 866 meter high Myrdal down through Flåmsdalen to Flåm on the Aurlandsfjord ( 2  moh. = Meter over havet , two meters above sea level).

Since January 1st 1998 the Flåmsbana has been operated by the private company Flåm Utvikling together with Norges Statsbaner . The railway line is a major tourist attraction in Western Norway and is therefore mainly used by tourists (in 2013 the railway had over 718,000 travelers).

A stop is made at the Kjosfossen waterfall to give the opportunity to take pictures. The journey time is about an hour. Depending on the season, four (winter) to ten (summer) trains run in each direction per day. The maximum speed is 40 km / h uphill and 30 km / h downhill.

history

The construction of the railway, originally designed to transport goods, began in 1923 in order to create transport options from the Bergen Railway down to the Sognefjord and thus to replace the last part of the Rallarvegen . Of the 20 tunnels on the line, 18 were driven by hand, so that one month of work was required per meter of tunnel. In autumn 1936 - after 13 years - the construction work had progressed so far that the tracks could be laid. On August 1, 1940, the line was put into operation with steam-powered freight trains. Regular passenger traffic began on February 10, 1941. It was finally completed in 1944 with the electrification of the line.

Like other branch lines in Norway, the line was threatened with closure in the 1950s and 1960s. But since the use by the passenger traffic steadily increased, it was finally abandoned. In 1998, the newly founded company Flåm Utvikling AS took over all marketing, including product development for the Flåmsbana. In 2013, a new visitor record was set with 718,195 passengers (2005: 475,033 passengers): The Flåmsbana has thus become one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway.

• Impressions while driving
• 

  Little gradient behind Myrdal

• 

  five minutes stop at Kjosfossen ...

• 

  ... for a photo

• 

  View from one tunnel to the next

route

The railway line is 20.2 kilometers long and overcomes a difference in altitude of 864 meters. 16 kilometers of the route have a gradient of over 28 ‰; the greatest gradient is 55 ‰ (this corresponds to a gradient of one meter over 18 meters). In this way, the Flåmsbana is one of the steepest standard-gauge adhesion railways in the world. Five different braking systems ensure the necessary operational safety.

The route runs through 20 tunnels, one of which was designed as a spiral tunnel to gain height. The total length of the tunnel is 5,692.4 meters: 28% of the route is in the tunnel. To avoid avalanche prone areas in Flåmsdalen, the Flåmsbana crosses the river several times. A bridge was built for this at only one point; otherwise the river was led through tunnels under the railroad tracks.

The route is operated without a route block . In the summer, two sets are used that cross in the Berekvam station . The course is set by hand. There is no dependency on the entry signals .

• 

  Myrdal station,
  Flåmsbana / Bergen Railway change

• 

  Flåmsbana slope diagram

• 

  Flåmsbana towards Myrdal, 2010, with locomotive El 17 2225

• 

  Flåmsbana train, summer 2010

tunnel

Flåmsbana tunnel
Surname	Length (m)	Years of construction
Furuberget	424.00	1926-1934
Spælemyren	24.60	1929-1930
Dalsbotn, lower one	206.60	1930-1935
Dalsbotn, upper one	154.30	1925-1928
Høga	59.20	1927-1928
Timberheller	172.60	1932-1933
Geithus	139.20	1934-1935
Sjølskott	39.20	1931-1935
Reppa	132.90	1926-1928
Melhus	177.5	?
Melhusgjelet	11.10	?
Blomheller	1029.60	1924-1935
Nåli	1341.50	1924-1935
Kjosfoss	478.40	1924-1935
Bakli	195.10	1924-1934
Tunnel p.1668	22.70	?
Tunnel p.1692	14.00	?
Vatnahalsen	888.60	1924-1934
Top, lower	79.90	1925-1926
Top, upper	101.40	1926-1929
total	5962.40	1924-1935

business

The locomotive 17 2232

Regular operation

The specially built El 9 series electric locomotives came to the Flåm Railway as early as 1947 . It was followed by the El 11 from around 1987 . Former middle and control cars of the series BM65, BM67 and BM91 railcars were often used as wagons. From 1992 onwards, Swedish X10 series railcars from SL ( Storstockholms Lokaltrafik ) were used on loan for a few years , and they kept their lettering and paintwork. Sandwich trains adapted for tourism have been operating since 1998 . Until 2014, they consisted of two locomotives each from the El 17 series with passenger cars from the B3-4, B3-5 and BF3-3 series, painted dark green. A total of six locomotives of the El 17 series were available. In the late summer of 2014 the El 17 were replaced by silver / gray painted locomotives of the El 18 series .

Incidents

After the fire of the wooden snow protection gallery Hallingskeid on June 16, 2011 on the Bergen Railway, all wooden snow protection galleries, including those of the Flåmsbana, are to be replaced by steel skeleton structures.

The railway facilities were badly damaged by floods on October 28 and 29, 2014. It was the greatest damage to the route since it opened. The route was closed for around four weeks.

On July 31, 2019, trains 1859 and 1860 with a total of 800 passengers collided head- on at the Berekvam crossing station, and they should have crossed here. 10 people were injured and both locomotives and two passenger cars were seriously damaged.

See also

• Rallarvegen

literature

• Johs. B. Thue (German translation: Ina Petzel): The Flåmsbana , ISBN 82-7959-057-9 .

Web links

Commons : Flåmsbana  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Flåm Railway  - travel guide

• Official website of the Flåmsbana
• Myrdal - Flåm, Flåmsbana. Retrieved January 8, 2014 (Norwegian). 
• Official website of the Flåmsbana Museum
• Almost an hour long video from the Norwegian TV station NRK, which shows the entire journey of the Flåmsbana
• Flåmsbana with the Interrail pass. In: interrail.eu. Retrieved December 5, 2015 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Undersøkelse av together mellom tog på Berekvam stasjon, Flåmsbana. (with photos of the accident). Statens havarikommisjon for transport, accessed October 15, 2019 (Norwegian). 
2. ↑ X10. In: jarnvag.net. Retrieved February 5, 2015 (Swedish). 
3. ↑ Report om jernbaneulykke Bergensbanen, Hallingskeid stasjon June 16, 2011, tog 62. Sikkerhetstilråding JB no. 2012 / 05T, Sikkerhetstilråding JB nr. 2012/06T. Statens havarikommisjon for transport, July 6, 2011, accessed on October 15, 2019 (Norwegian, investigation report available as PDF). 
4. ^ Einar Aarre: Flåmsbanen henger i lose air. In: Aftenposten . November 8, 2014, accessed February 5, 2015 (Norwegian). 
5. ^ Lars Barth-Heyerdahl: Sporveksel lå i feil posisjon - tog krasjet. In: tv2.no. Retrieved October 15, 2019 (Norwegian).