Bergen light rail

Bergen light rail
Tram 203 at the end of the line Byparken
Route length:	20.4 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	750 V  =
Minimum radius :	25 m
Top speed:	70 km / h
Legend By-parking Nunseter Bystasjon Nygård Florida Nygård Bridge Danmarks plass Kronstad depot Gamle Vossebanen Kronstad Brann stadium Wergeland Fagerås tunnel (663 m) Sletten Slettebakken Slettebakkstunnel (412 m) Fantoft Fantoft tunnel (1107 m) Paradis Tveiterås tunnel (443 m) Hop Nesttun terminal End of 1st stage Gamle Vossebanen Nesttun center Nest Tunhaug Tunnel Skjoldskiftet Mårdalen Skjold tunnel Skjold Lagoons End of the 2nd stage Folldal tunnel Råstølen Steinsviktunnel Ferås tunnel Sandslivegen Sandslimarka Sandslitunnel Kokstad Birkelandsskiftet Kokstadflaten Kokstad depot Flesland tunnel Bergen lufthavn Turning track

The Bergen Light Rail ( Norwegian Bybanen i Bergen ) is a rail-bound local means of transport in the Norwegian city ​​of Bergen . After construction began on January 7, 2008, the tram has been running since its opening on June 22, 2010 on a 9.8 km long first section from the city center to Nesttun in the Fana district. The 4 km long second stage to Rådal was built from August 2010 and opened on June 21, 2013. In April 2017, the last section of the route to Bergen Airport was opened to traffic. Further lines to other parts of the city are planned. There was already a tram in Bergen between 1897 and 1965.

history

The city's first permanent local public transport service was the Bergen (Trikken i Bergen) tram , which ran from 1897 to 1965. However, the route network was limited to the city center and did not extend into the suburbs. The city administration decided to shut down the tram as it considered motorized individual transport and pure bus operation to be more suitable. A part was converted to trolleybus operation. Since the traffic load increased much more than expected, the city and Statens Vegvesen tried to solve the problem by building a ring road and introducing alternative means of transport.

Before the Bergen Railway was shortened by the construction of the Ulriken Tunnel, the Bergen – Nesttun suburban railway, which opened in 1883, was an important local transport link. However, operations ceased on January 31, 1965, although the line had only been electrified eleven years earlier. In the 1970s there were plans for an extensive high-speed rail network in Bergen, with an underground section in the city center. The Oslo T-bane served as a model . Three routes were planned to Flaktveit, Olsvik and the airport. The city council dealt with the project in 1973 but did not come to a decision.

Although a toll ring road was built around Bergen in the 1980s and 1990s, traffic jams continued. In 1995, both the Bergen Sporvei municipal transport company and the Norwegian Nature Conservation Association (Norges Naturvernforbund) proposed the reintroduction of the tram. The successor company Gaia Trafikk brought the idea of ​​a Bus Rapid Transit system with double articulated buses into play in 2004 .

Construction work at Kronstad (2008)

eight-axle car 227 coming from the airport at the entrance to the Florida station

The city administration planned a tram that roughly corresponded to the ideas of the nature conservation association. Both the Bergen City Council and Storting approved the project in 2000 and 2002, respectively. The costs were shared by the Norwegian state, the province of Hordaland and the city of Bergen, part of which was financed with the revenue from the toll ring road. In August 2007, construction began with the demolition of a building to make way for a temporary bus station. In 2007, twelve Variobahn trains were ordered from Stadler Rail , with an option for four further compositions.

The construction of the line began in January 2008. To cross Store Lungegårdsvannet bay , a fourth Nygård bridge was built for private transport, while the oldest bridge was converted for the light rail. In April 2009, Fjord1 Partner, a joint venture between Fjord1 Nordvestlandske and Keolis , was awarded the operating license until 2017. On June 22, 2010, Queen Sonja made the official opening.

Additional vehicles were procured for the line extension and the existing ones were extended by two to seven elements; the six-axle vehicles became eight-axle vehicles.

route

Brann stadium stop on Inndalsveien

The 9.8 km long route connects the city center with the southern suburb of Nesttun. The northern terminus Byparken is an important local transport hub at the Stadtpark, where there is a connection to all bus routes in the city center. The route passes the main train station, the central bus station for overland lines, the University of Bergen and several institutes of the University of Bergen . On the Nygard Bridge, it crosses the narrow section of Store Lungegårdsvannet. Danmarks plass south of the bay is the only stop with a central platform.

Former reception building on the old Vossebanen route, which was used until 1964 - used as the Bybane's office and remote control center from 2010, in the depot area

The route then passes the depot in the Kronstad district and runs along Inndalsveien near the Brann Stadium . The Wergeland stop is at the portal of the 1.1 kilometer long Fagerås tunnel . The S-shaped tunnel has a gradient of 6% and a curve radius of 150 meters. At the south portal, the line joins a conventional railway line with a superstructure , so that a speed of up to 80 km / h is possible. Three more tunnels follow in the further course of the route. Nesttun was the temporary terminus until June 2013.

Construction of the second stage began in January 2011. It leads from Nesttun to the Lagunen shopping center in the Rådal district. The route of the disused Nesttun-Os railway is not used, as it is now mostly used as a cycle path. The opening took place on June 21, 2013.

As a third stage, the section between lagoons and Bergen Airport was built from 2013 . A 6 km long section between lagoons and Birkelandsskifte was put into operation in August 2016. The last section leading to the airport was opened on April 21, 2017. The runway ends in front of the new terminal, which only went into operation on August 17, 2017. A new depot has also been built in Kokstad, as the previously used depot in Kronstad only barely had enough space for the vehicles procured by 2013. In addition to the storage hall, workshops, the new control center and offices for light rail operations have been created there.

Web links

Commons : Bergen Stadtbahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the light rail
• Video of a cab ride on the Bergen light rail

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jacobus Meulman: Lokalbaneplaner i Bergen i 1970-Arene . In: På Sporet . No. 104 , 2000, pp. 28-35 .
2. ↑ Bjørn Andersen: Trikk i Bergen igjen . In: Lokaltraffik . No. 27 , 1996, pp. 12-17 .
3. ↑ Espen Børhaug: Gigantbuss. Bergensavisen, December 11, 2004, accessed May 6, 2011 (Norwegian). 
4. ^ Bybanen . In: Lokaltrafikk . No. 66 , 2007.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Jimmy Schminke: Bybanen i Bergen: Status midt i byggeperioden . In: Lokaltraffik . No. 72 , 2009, p. 20-30 .
6. ^ Keolis to operate Bergen light rail line. Railway Gazette International , April 3, 2009, accessed May 6, 2011 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Bybane Utbygging -Bybanen-utbygging, HFK. Hordaland Fylkeskommune, 2013, accessed June 22, 2013 (Norwegian). 
8. ↑ Åpnet i dag. Bergens Avisen newspaper , June 21, 2013, accessed June 22, 2013 (Norwegian).