The Flåm Line () is a long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland Municipality, in Vestland county, Norway. A branch line of the Bergen Line, it runs through the valley of Flåmsdalen and connects the mainline with Sognefjord. The line's elevation difference is ; it has ten stations, twenty tunnels and one bridge. The maximum gradient is 5.5 percent (1:18). Because of its steep gradient and picturesque nature, the Flåm Line is now almost exclusively a tourist service and has become the third-most visited tourist attraction in Norway.
Construction of the line started in 1924, with the line opening in 1940. It allowed the district of Sogn access to Bergen and Oslo via the Bergen Line. Electric traction was taken into use in 1944; at first El 9 locomotives were used, and from 1982 El 11. Until 1991, the train connected with a ferry service from Flåm to Gudvangen. In 1992, freight services were terminated, and due to low ticket prices and high operating costs, the line was nearly closed. In 1998, Flåm Utvikling took over marketing and ticket sale for the line, prices were heavily increased and El 17 locomotives were introduced (replaced by El 18 in 2014). The trains remain operated by the Vy as a subcontractor for Flåm Utvikling, while the line itself is owned and operated by the Bane NOR.
Route
The Flåm Line runs from Myrdal on the Bergen Line to Flåm. Myrdal Station is located in a mountain pass at above mean sea level (AMSL), while Flåm Station is located at AMSL. The line's maximum gradient is 5.5 percent, and of the line's have at least 2.8 percent gradient. The line has standard gauge and a minimum curve radius of ,Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 125 and is the steepest standard-gauge railway in Europe.Thue (2002): 10 Maximum permitted speed upwards is , while it is downhill. The line has eight stops, twenty tunnels and one bridge. The line is electrified at using overhead wire, and is equipped with Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R),Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009): 42 but lacks centralized traffic control (CTC).Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009): 38 The infrastructure is owned and operated by the Norwegian National Rail Administration.
At Myrdal Station, the Flåm Line runs in the same direction as the trains towards Oslo, but immediately starts running downwards into the Flåmsdalen valley. The first part of the line runs through snow shelters and several short tunnels.Thue (2002): 20 Vatnahalsen Station is located from Myrdal, at AMSL.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 44 The line then runs through a horseshoe curve and the Vatnahalsen Tunnel. It exits the tunnel onto an artificial shelf on a cliff which falls several hundred meters down.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 40 Reinunga Station is located from Myrdal and at elevation. It is followed by Kjosfossen Station, from Myrdal and AMSL, which serves no other purpose than allowing tourists to look at the waterfall Kjosfossen.Thue (2002): 23
The line then runs through the Nåli Tunnel, the longest on the line.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 41 At the end of the tunnel lies Kårdal Station, traditionally serving the farm furthest up in the valley. The station is from Myrdal and AMSL. On the other side of the valley is Trodlatoppen, the site of several avalanches every year. The line then runs through the Blomheller Tunnel, after which it reaches Blomheller Station, from Myrdal and AMSL. The railway then crosses the river Flåmselvi and runs through a series of short tunnels.
At from Myrdal, the line reaches Berekvam Station, located at AMSL. It is the only station to have a passing loop and thus the only location on the line where trains can meet. Because the station is unstaffed and lacks CTC, crossing must be performed using flags at day and torches at night, set by personnel who travel from Myrdal or Flåm. At Høga, the railway crosses the river again, this time by the river running in a tunnel under the tracks.Thue (2002): 34 The next station is Dalsbotn Station, located from Myrdal and at AMSL. Just before reaching the last tunnel, the long Furuberget Tunnel, the line passes by the waterfall Rjoandefossen, which with a vertical drop is one of the line's main attractions.
After Håreina Station, located from Myrdal at elevation, the valley widens and changes character, becoming flatter and with more vegetation. After passing Lunden Station, from Myrdal and at elevation, the line reaches the terminus at Flåm. Located on Aurlandsfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord, Flåm has 400 residents and is nearly exclusively a tourist area, featuring amongst other things a hotel and a cruise ship port.Thue (2002): 44 The station also has a railway museum dedicated to the Flåm Line.
History Planning Plans to build a railway to connect Norway's two largest cities, Oslo and Bergen, were launched by Andreas Tanberg Gløersen in 1871. He proposed that the line run via Hallingdal and Voss and include two short branch lines which would connect to the two major fjord systems in the area, Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord. The narrow gauge Voss Line from Bergen to Voss opened in 1883, and the Bergen Line was completed as standard gauge in 1909.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 16 During the construction of the Bergen Line, the path that ran up Flåmsdalen was upgraded by NSB to allow access to the area around Myrdal.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 19 This road was used by horse carriages and later cars, becoming an important access route to the area, but it was too steep and narrow for heavy vehicles. The Hardanger Line, which connected the Bergen Line to Hardangerfjord, opened in 1935, and was the county's first railway to open with electric traction.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 7
The first engineering surveys for the Flåm Line were performed in 1893. It resulted in a proposal for a narrow gauge railway which would be long. Most of the railway would be built as an adhesion railway with a 2.5 percent gradient, although part of it would be a rack railway with a gradient of 10.0 percent. It was at the time estimated to cost 3.3 million Norwegian krone (NOK).Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 24 In 1904, a radically different route to Sognefjord was proposed: a long adhesion line from Voss to Gudvangen via Stalheim. It was estimated to cost NOK 3.5 million, but was considered by local politicians to be inferior to the Flåm alternative. A third alternative was a combined tramway and funicular, which would be built between Myrdal and Fretheim. It was estimated to cost NOK 800,000, but NSB was concerned that the proposal's light rolling stock would not be sufficient to operate through snow during the winter.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 25 Estimated traffic for the Flåm Line was 22,000 annual passengers.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 72
As both the other alternatives were discarded, consensus gradually grew for the Flåm alternative, and the Railway Committee for Nordre Bergenhus County recommended this proposal. New plans from NSB criticized the mix of rack and adhesion railway, and instead proposed a conventional adhesion line all the way. Engineer Ferdinand Bjerke traveled to Continental Europe to study several combined railways. He published a preliminary report in 1911, which recommended an adhesion railway, although he also felt the need for a detailed study of a rack railway. His final report was finished in 1913, and although it recommended adhesion, it pointed out that the line's capacity would be smaller than predicted and that costs would be three times as high—NOK 5.5 million. The plans were approved by the Ministry of Labour and NSB's main board in 1915.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 26
The plans were approved by Parliament in 1916. However, the decision concerning technical specifications was not taken by Parliament until 1923, when it decided that the line was to be electric.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 28 The line was then estimated to cost NOK 14.5 million—the increase caused by inflation during the First World War—of which NOK 1.2 million was to be paid by the local governments. The line was to have tracks which weighed 25 kilograms per meter (50 lb/yd). The curve radius was set to minimum , although exceptionally was permitted. The steepest permitted gradient was 5.5 percent (1:18).Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 29
In 1915, the first proposal was launched for using a bus service as an alternative to the train. This was rejected because buses were not able to give the comfort and reliability of a train. The idea was proposed again in 1922 by the director of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. Among the strongest opponents to the bus alternative was Ingolf Elster Christensen, County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane and later parliamentarian, who stated that the Nordre Bergenhus County (today Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality) had paid part of the regional financing of the Bergen Line on condition that they receive a branch line to the Sognefjord.
The 1920s saw high inflation and large public deficits. Several public committees were created solely to cut costs. One such proposal was to build a road to Flåm, with the proposal being led by Hans Kristian Seip, who was director of Bergen Public Road Administration.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 32 In 1925, following the appointment of Mowinckel's First Cabinet, it was proposed that the railway be built as a road, and the tracks laid later. One of NSB's board members proposed instead building a suspended railway. The plans to cancel the railway were stopped because of parliamentarian support for the railway. Part of the political support was because there was agreement on a national railway plan, and removing parts of it would disrupt the geographical compromise. However, Parliament did vote to reduce the number of intermediate stations to one, which would allow trains to meet at Berekvam. The cost saving for a road was estimated at 30 percent. The issue of a road was taken up in a new vote in Parliament in 1927, but was again rejected.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 31
Construction The administration office for the construction was established in 1923 and was until 1935 located at Voss. In that period, construction was led by Peter Bernhard Kristian Lahlum, who was also responsible for the Hardanger Line. After the Hardanger Line was completed, Lahlum retired, and the office was moved to Flåm where responsibility was taken over by Adolph M. B. Kielland.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 33 To start with, there were 120 men working on the construction, although this quickly increased to 220. The numbers fluctuated between that and as low as 80, although hit an all-time high of 280 people in 1937. To house the employees, eight barracks were built.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 34 Among the first things built were housing and station buildings, which could then be used by people working on the construction.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 35 The local economy was stimulated by farmers being paid for transport. Using horses, they would transport tourists by day and building materials by night. The competition was fierce, resulting in fights for customers, although it calmed down after traffic police were introduced.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 36
In 1924, there was a landslide at Høga, covering the area planned for the railway. The area was made of phyllite and was the geologically most unstable area on the route. The initial response was to plan for a tunnel past the area, but this was quickly rejected because of the high price. Instead, the line was moved further away from the mountain side. Other slides during construction included an avalanche near Store Reppa on 10 February 1925, which deposited up to of earth. In April 1925, a landslide took place above Berekvam. On 8 February 1928, an avalanche did some damage to the right-of-way near Nåli.Gubberud & Sunde (1992): 39