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30-542: In addition to carrying long-haul passenger and freight trains on the Bergen Line, it is the main part of Bergen Commuter Rail . The Old Voss Line , the section from Arna to Bergen, has become a heritage railway . The first documented idea of building a railway between Norway's two largest cities was launched by Voss forest supervisor Hans Gløersen on 24 August 1871 in the Bergensposten newspaper. He suggested building

60-539: A museum , a coach shed, a yard and turntable . Norwegian State Railways (1883%E2%80%931996) The Norwegian State Railways ( Norwegian : Norges Statsbaner or NSB ) was a state-owned railway company that operated most of the railway network in Norway . The government agency /directorate was created in 1883 to oversee the construction and operation of all state-owned railways in Norway . On 1 December 1996, it

90-464: A central part of the network for half a century. In January 1942, NSB gave the "green light for putting prisoners of war (POWs) to work on the construction of the Nordland Line . The POWs were forced to perform labour under conditions that were inhumane, and [Bjørn] Westlie , author of the 2015 book, Fangene som forsvant ("The Prisoners Who Disappeared"), shows that NSB was fully informed about

120-451: A conversion to the locomotives running on oil or coal dust . In 1939 a plan for national electrification was launched, and the Voss Line was top priority. But the outbreak of World War II set the plans back, and not until the 1950s was it again possible to afford such investments. Electric traction came into use on 2 July 1954. The first 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Bergen to Takvam went

150-519: A private company, although with some government ownership. This was followed by two wholly state-owned railways , the narrow-gauge Hamar–Grundset Line in 1861 and the standard-gauge Kongsvinger Line in 1862, with the latter branching from the Trunk Line at Lillestrøm . Several more were built over the next two decades. In 1871 the national railway was connected to the Swedish rail infrastructure. By

180-425: A vertical descent of 864 metres (2,835 ft) or 5.5% along the 20 kilometres (12 mi) route from Myrdal to Flåm. It is operated by NSB, but marketed by Flåm Utvikling . El 17 locomotives haul B3 carriages, all painted green. 60°38′17″N 5°57′30″E  /  60.6380°N 5.9582°E  / 60.6380; 5.9582 Old Voss Line The Old Voss Line ( Norwegian : Gamle Vossebanen )

210-424: A very roundabout way, and it was clear that it would be possible to reduce the line by 21 kilometres (13 mi) with the construction of Ulriken Tunnel (7,660 metres or 25,130 feet), Arnanipa Tunnel (2,177 metres or 7,142 feet) and Tunestveit Tunnel (40 metres or 130 feet). The idea was approved by parliament in 1956, based on private financing from the businessman Fritz Rieber . Construction started in 1959 with

240-518: Is a heritage railway between Garnes and Midttun near Bergen , Norway . Originally constructed as a 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) narrow gauge line, it formed part of the Bergen to Voss railway opened in 1883. Following the decision to complete the railway to Oslo in 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge , the line was upgraded in 1904. Electrified in 1954, it continued to serve as part of

270-414: Is located near Nesttun , and there are further intermediate stops at Arna , Espeland and Haukeland . The service operates with a type 18 steam locomotive, no. 255, built in 1913, decommissioned in 1969 and restored by volunteers between 1981 and 1993. It pulls a series of teak coaches built between 1921 and 1938. The locomotive is stored in the engine shed at the restored Garnes station that features

300-507: The Dovre Line was electrified. In 2002 the freight operations were split to the subsidiary CargoNet , and the maintenance department became Mantena . "The transportation of Jews that were to be deported and the use of POWs on the Nordland Line is a dark chapter of NSB's history", according to kommunikasjonssjef Åge-Christoffer Lundeby in NSB in 2015. Later, Bjørn Westlie said this about

330-481: The Norway/Vänern Line and had an excess of skilled labor for construction. This import of labor had the effect of pumping money into the local economy, and several taverns were built along the line. There were some accidents, and several deaths among the workers. Construction finished in 1882 and some test services began, though not scheduled until the spring of 1883. Official opening was on 11 July 1883. Many of

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360-461: The scapegoat for cooperation with the Germans," writes Westlie, even though "many of the darkest chapters are from the period before Vik" became chief, according to Halvor Hegtun. There was no investigation of the agencies [or NSB] after the war. However, the former chief Vik was not to be prosecuted if he "did not work for NSB again". In 1952 a plan of electrifying operations was adopted. In 1970

390-578: The 1880s, the pace of railway construction ground to a halt due to economic and political problems. In 1883, the Norwegian State Railways was established and railway construction started up again. The Norwegian State Railways also bought up many private railways to integrate them into the national railway network. In 1920 the Bratsberg Line was acquired by the government. The Trunk Line was first formally acquired in 1926, despite having formed

420-681: The Bergen to Oslo main line until the Arnanipa Tunnel and the 7.5 km (4.7 mi) Ulriken Tunnel , which opened in 1964, resulted in the closure of the line for passenger traffic. The line is still open for freight traffic. Today, the museum railway is operated by the Norwegian Railway Association ( Norsk Jernbaneklubb ) and runs on Sundays between June and September over a distance of 18 km (11 mi) between Garnes and Midttun, taking just under one hour. The Midttun terminus

450-406: The Voss Line, and to begin with 400,000 Norwegian speciedaler (NOK 1.6 million) was issued. In the 1873 parliamentary election railway supporter Peter Jebsen was elected, spending the next few years furiously defending the railway. Parliament did not endorse new railway projects in the 1874 session, instead making a complete plan for all railway construction, to be proposed by a committee. When

480-490: The continuous traffic on the line, with 36 departures per day to Nesttun, six to Garnes and four to Voss. In preparation a few curves had to be straightened, the tunnels widened and the bridges strengthened. On the night of 10/11 August 1904 all the track was changed and in the morning the trains could operate on standard gauge to Voss. Norway is a country with abundance of hydroelectricity and NSB saw huge amounts of money burned with imported coal. Plans for electrification of

510-548: The extermination of Norwegian Jews: "Who else would be more responsible than the NSB? For me, the NSB's use of POWs and the deportation of Jews must be viewed as one: namely, that the NSB thereby became an agency that participated in Hitler's violence against these two groups, who were the Nazis' main enemies. The fact that the pertinent NSB leaders received awards after the war confirms the NSB's and others' desire to conceal this". The title

540-419: The investments, the state covering the rest, mostly through foreign debt . On 20 October 1871 two engineers traversed the two possible routes from Bergen to Voss; via Fana , Os and Hardangerfjord ; and via Dale and Sørfjord . Though covering a less populated area, the latter would be cheaper to build, and have less elevation. A railway committee was created on 25 January 1872 with a limited mandate, which

570-450: The largest part started in March 1876. During the winter the engineers had made final adjustments to the plans. At any given time at least 800 men worked on construction, and at the peak 1,800 men were employed. They worked 12 hours per day, for which they had a daily wage of NOK 2.55, the highest wage for navvies in the country. To a large extent the labor came from Sweden, who had just finished

600-591: The line are as old as the railway itself, and in 1912 the line from Nesttun to Bergen was proposed electrified and doubled, having seen the Thamshavn Line open with electric traction in 1908. During the planning of the Hardanger Line and the Flåm Line during the 1930s the suggestion again arose, and both the branch lines were built with electric traction, but not the main line. Counter suggestions were raised proposing

630-476: The navvies settled near the line, and started working for the Norwegian State Railways as part of the operation. On 27 November 1909 the Bergen Line opened from Voss to Hønefoss , and the Voss Line lost its independent status. The Bergen Line was built to standard gauge , so the line from Bergen to Voss had to be converted for the opening of the Bergen Line. This was especially challenging because of

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660-500: The outward shipping from the Oslo harbor (...) the NSB employees did not know what fate awaited the Jews. Naturally they understood that the Jews would be shipped out of the country by force, because the train went to Oslo harbor". Furthermore, Westlie points to "dilemmas [that] NSB's employees found themselves in when the NSB leadership cooperated with the Germans". "[Bjarne] Vik was to be made

690-470: The prisoners' situation", according to a 2015 Klassekampen article. Of the 100,000 Soviet POWs that came to Norway, 13,000 were put to work on the Nordland Line. Over 1,000 died as a result of [the] cold, starvation and exhaustion (out of a total of 13,700 dead "foreign POWs, political prisoners and forced laborers " in Norway between 1941 and 1945). According to Westlie, "NSB transported Jews to

720-582: The rail line through the Ulriken mountains is considerably faster than driving around. Parts of the closed sections of the line, from Midttun to Garnes , has been converted to a heritage railway —the Old Voss Line —that is operated with steam trains by the Norwegian Railway Club during the summer. The Flåm Line branch has been converted to a tourist route. The railway has spectacular scenery and

750-607: The railway via Voss and Hallingdal to connect with the Krøderen Line . Back in 1866 he had launched the idea of the Jæren Line . Within days of the launch of the Bergen Line the city council had garnered support. In 1872 the railway director Carl Abraham Pihl and two engineers went on a survey tour to look at the suggested line. At the time it was common that proposals for railways came from local initiatives, and that local municipalities and private investors would then pay about 20% of

780-403: The report was launched on 20 March 1875, the Voss Line was not included since it could not show a higher profitability than 1%. During the 1875 session there was not a majority for the Voss Line, partially due to the lack of capital available for local investors. This was based on a claim from Johan Jørgen Schwartz , the chairman of the committee, that the investment costs were underestimated. This

810-422: The tunnels being finished in 1963 while the tracks were finished laid on 29 May 1964 when the first train entered the tunnel. NSB operates a commuter rail service from Bergen with two-hourly departures to Arna plus 14 daily departures to Voss, of which up to six continue to Myrdal. Rolling stock is Class 69 multiple units. The first part to Arna represents an important part of the public transport in Bergen, since

840-530: Was demerged to create the infrastructure operator Norwegian National Rail Administration , the train operator Norwegian State Railways and the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate . The name was taken by the train operator, although the infrastructure operator remained a government agency and is the legal successor. Norway's first railway, the Trunk Line , was opened in 1854. It was built and run as

870-520: Was countered by Nils Henrik Bruun , a constructor from Bergen, who was willing to construct all the tunnels for less than the budgeted sum. When Jebsen in addition was willing to act as personal guarantor for Bruun in case of his death, the majority in the parliament shifted. On 9 June 1875 parliament voted 61 to 42 to build the line. The line was built to narrow gauge , 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Construction started in December 1875, while

900-603: Was increased on 20 December. At the same time there was a dispute between the Ministry of Labour and Pihl about whether to prioritize the Bergen Line, but in July 1872 surveys were performed in person by Pihl and two engineers, and their report was positive. At the same time he launched the idea of a branch line up Valdres to Lærdal . By 1873 agreement had been reached as to the right-of-way to Voss, but not onwards towards Oslo. On 13 January 1874 Bergen city council started issuing stock for

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