Bergensbanen

A railway argued into existence

Hans A. T. Gløersen published the larger idea of a railway from Bergen across the mountain in 1871. The first result was Vossebanen, opened between Bergen and Voss in 1883. The much more difficult question was whether, where and how that railway should cross the mountain. 01 08

Parliament decided in 1894 to extend the railway from Voss to Taugevatn. In 1898, a second decision carried it onward towards Hønefoss and Roa. These decisions fixed more than a destination. The continuation was to use standard gauge, which meant that the existing narrow-gauge Vossebanen would also have to be rebuilt. 01 08

First, build the way in

Much of the high-mountain construction area was roadless. Before rails could be laid, people had to create a supply system for the work itself. About 122 kilometres of construction roads were built from Palmafossen towards Upsete and from Flåm up towards the mountain. In the busy season, between 70 and 100 horse loads could travel the road each day. 03

The roads carried food, tools, timber, rails and explosives into an area that had previously been reached by foot, horse or boat. Sections of this construction network later became Rallarvegen. What is now treated as a scenic route began as essential railway logistics. 03 04

Gravhalsen: five kilometres from two sides

Gravhalsen was the decisive barrier west of Myrdal. The working tunnel is 5,311 metres long. It was driven from both ends: the western face was supplied from Voss, while work on the eastern approach began in autumn 1896 and depended on the construction road rising from Flåm. The tunnel demanded six years of work in three shifts. 03

The first plan was to hand-drill roughly 1.6 kilometres from the eastern side. Progress in the hard gneiss was too slow for a bore more than five kilometres long. Compressed-air drills were therefore introduced in Gravhalsen, powered by electricity generated at Kjosfossen. Kringom records that this mechanised drilling was used in Gravhalsen while the other main Bergensbanen tunnels were still drilled by hand. 02 03

The machines did not remove the danger. West of the watershed, fault zones, loose rock and water complicated several tunnels. University of Bergen's geological account records deaths from rockfall in both Reinunga and Gravhalsen, alongside the risks from blasting, fumes and unstable ground. The achievement was not simply the length of the tunnel, but the combination of logistics, geology and a new drilling method in a roadless mountain landscape. 05

The people who made the line

At the peak of construction, around 2,400 people were at work. They came from Norway, Sweden and Finland. Experienced Swedish navvies were particularly valued for stonework, while many local workers took on earthworks and transport. Engineers, cooks, traders, horse drivers and the people who supplied lodging were also part of the railway economy. 03 04 05

The workforce did not simply pass through. Construction camps and supply routes brought wages, customers and demand into small communities, increasing economic activity and helping local trade develop. The workers also brought organised labour into the mountains. At Voss, the railway workers formed the union Fram. 03

The railway opened in stages

The western work reached Myrdal first. Voss-Myrdal opened in the summer of 1906. In June 1908, trains could run between Bergen and Gulsvik, but the complete through connection was still unfinished. 01 03 08

The first passenger train ran through from Bergen to Oslo on 24 November 1909. Three days later, on 27 November, King Haakon VII formally opened Bergensbanen. The distinction matters: 1906 and 1908 mark useful operating stages; 1909 marks the completed railway across the mountain. 01 03

Then came the winter

Snow was not an unforeseen problem. Mountain farmers had helped survey snow depths before the route was fixed, and the railway was designed with ploughing, snow sheds and snow fences in mind. Even so, the first years showed how quickly the mountain could take control. 02 07

In January 1908, a train carrying about 150 passengers became trapped near Taugevatn. The passengers were brought to safety, but the train itself remained in the snow until May. At Grjotrusti, a snow survey on 3 April 1918 measured 585 centimetres. The battle for a year-round railway did not end when construction did; it became permanent railway work. 06 07

From steam to electric

Electrification moved across Bergensbanen in sections. Bergen-Voss became electric in 1954. Hønefoss-Ål followed in 1962, and the remaining sections were completed in 1964. 01 03 08

The western route changed at the same time. Ulriken and Arnanipa tunnels opened on 1 August 1964, creating a much shorter railway between Bergen and Arna. On 7 December 1964, a little over four months later, electrification of the entire Hønefoss-Bergen railway was complete. Ulriken therefore belongs to the same decisive year, but the two milestones should not be collapsed into the same date. 01 08

The high-mountain railway was built again

Bergensbanen did not remain on its original alignment. Lindelia was rebuilt in 1956, and Ulriken and Arnanipa transformed the western approach in 1964. The most extensive later change came around Finse, where the original railway crossed the exposed plateau at Taugevatn, 1,301 metres above sea level. Snow sheds and permanent winter work kept it usable, but the old summit alignment remained slow and vulnerable. 01 06 08

Finsetunnelen opened in summer 1993. The complete tunnel and concrete-covered structure is 10,589 metres long; Store norske leksikon distinguishes 10,300 metres driven through rock. The new route removed the railway from the most exposed line west of Finse and placed the working summit at 1,237.2 metres inside the mountain. 09

That tunnel was one phase of a larger programme. During the 1990s, roughly 25 kilometres of high-mountain railway were realigned. East of Finse, the new line was made straighter and in places set higher in the terrain so that cuttings would collect less snow. The 2,710-metre Gråskallen tunnel and the final eastern sections completed the staged programme in 1999. 01 10

Finse became another planet

In March 1979, the production of The Empire Strikes Back came to Finse. The snowfields around Finse and Hardangerjøkulen became the exterior landscape of the ice planet Hoth. Lucasfilm's surviving dispatches show how dependent the production was on Norwegian winter knowledge, Hotel Finse 1222 and the railway authorities that helped move people and equipment to a place without a public road. 11 12 13

Finse's screen history is therefore also railway history. The film location could function because the line, the hotel and generations of winter experience already existed. The gathering survives because visitors can still arrive by the same mountain railway. 11 13

A living passenger and freight artery

The Hønefoss-Bergen railway is 371.3 kilometres long, electrified and remotely controlled. The Norwegian Railway Directorate lists 33 passenger stations and stops. Its freight overview includes terminals at Hønefoss and Bergen, timber loading at Nesbyen and terminal or siding functions at Voss and Palmafoss. 01

The same overview estimates that roughly half of the goods transported between Oslo and Bergen travel by rail. The line therefore serves freight, timber, local traffic and the communities along the route as well as long-distance passengers. 01

The western end continues to change. A second Ulriken tunnel entered service in 2020, and the complete double-track project between Bergen, Fløen and Arna opened in 2024. The new railway sits beside, beneath and sometimes far from the line opened in 1909, but it still carries the same mountain connection. 01