The Bergensbanen on the Hardangervidda near Finse. The track shown here is an abandoned section of the line, which now runs through a tunnel instead.

The Bergensbanen - the railway between Bergen and Oslo in Norway - is the highest mainline railway line in Europe and one of the most spectacular, crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at over 1200 meters (4000 feet) above sea level. The Bergensbanen on the Hardangervidda near Finse Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Bergensbanen on the Hardangervidda near Finse Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Hardangervidda is a mountain range and national park in Norway. ... County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2004) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ... County Oslo NO-03 District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... Hardangervidda is a mountain range and national park in Norway. ...

The overland route between Bergen and eastern Norway crosses the harsh and inhospitable Hardangervidda plateau, which stands between the western fjords and the interior. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and, as early as 1870, proposals were raised for a railway to connect it to the capital. There were several possible routes for the line and it was not until 1894 that the final decision was made by the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. Only the first stretch of the line, from Voss to Taugevatn, was initially authorised, with the rest being authorised in 1898. Sognefjorden, Norway A fjord (sometimes written fiord, notably in New Zealand English) is a glacially overdeepened valley, usually narrow and steep-sided, extending below sea level and filled with salt water. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... This article is part of the Politics of Norway series. ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The construction of the line was exceptionally challenging. It had to be laid high above sea level, in a region without roads and with a climate that saw many feet of snow in the winter and temperatures far below freezing. Tunnels and cuttings had to be excavated through solid gneiss, with one tunnel alone - that at Gravhals - taking six years to build, mostly by hand. Banded gneiss with dike of granite orthogneiss Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high grade regional metamorphic processes from preexisting formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks. ...

The line from Voss to Myrdal was opened in the summer of 1906, with the full line opening for passenger traffic on 27 November 1909. King Haakon VII stated upon the opening of the Bergenbanen that this was the Norwegian engineering masterpiece of his generation. Readers of Norwegian Technology Weekly (Teknisk Ukeblad) voted the Bergensbanen the fifth greatest Norwegian engineering masterpiece of the 20th Century. Steam engines ran on the line until 1957 but in 1964 the line was converted to electric traction. 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... November 27 is the 331st day (332nd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... King Haakon VII King Haakon VII of Norway, Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel (August 3, 1872 - September 21, 1957) was the first King of Norway after the dissolution of the personal union with Sweden in 1905. ... Teknisk Ukeblad (Norwegian for Technical Weekly Magazine, abbreviated TU, previous spelling Teknisk Ugeblad) is Norways leading engineering journal. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

The Bergensbanen runs for a total length of 493 km with 182 tunnels, totalling approximately 73 km. The longest single tunnel on the line is that at Finse, just over 13 km long. The line crosses 300 bridges spanning numerous rivers and streams. The highest station on the line (and the highest mainline station in Europe) is at Finse, 1222.2 meters above sea level. The line's highest point was Taugevatn near Finse, at 1300 meters, until Finsetunellen opened in 1993; it is now inside this tunnel, at 1237 meters. It takes a total of 6-7 hours to travel the full length of the line. The line has a maximum gradient of 1:46.5 on the Voss-Myrdal stretch. It is kept open all year round, although not without some difficulty due to the heavy snowfall experienced on the Hardangervidda; in 1967, railway workers had to clear 67 feet (20.4m) of snow from the line. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The line is today a popular tourist attraction, as well as a busy intercity route. It provides an essential link to the Hardangervidda and is especially popular with hikers and cyclists. The old railway workers' road, the Rallarvegen (navvy road), runs alongside the line and can be cycled in a day; the Norwegian State Railway provides rental bicycles from depots at Finse and other points along the line. At Myrdal, a spectacular 20 km-long branch line, Flåmsbana, leads down to Flåm. Navvy is a shorter form of the word navigator and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects. ... The NSB, Norges Statsbaner AS., known in English as Norwegian State Railways is a transport company, created in its present form by the Norwegian National Rail Administration through legislation on December 1, 1996, but then privatized on July 1, 2002, owned privately by Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications. ... FlÃ¥msbana is a branch line of Bergensbanen which runs between Myrdal and FlÃ¥m in the Aurland municipality in Norway. ...

Bergensbanen stations

Upward gradient diagram of the Bergensbanen

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (792x612, 12 KB) Upward gradient diagram of the bergensbanen in Norway in english version, own diagram ) File links The following pages link to this file: Bergensbanen ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (792x612, 12 KB) Upward gradient diagram of the bergensbanen in Norway in english version, own diagram ) File links The following pages link to this file: Bergensbanen ... Oslo Sentralstasjon (Oslo Central Station), frequently abbreviated Oslo S, is the main railway station in Oslo. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Hallingskeid is a railway station on Bergensbanen in the Ulvik municipality between the stations Myrdal and Finse. ... Myrdal station is on Bergensbanen in the Aurland municipality. ... The Bergen Railway Station in Bergen, Norway is the end station on Bergensbanen. ...

Further reading

• Bergensbanen, Bjørn Holøs, Gyldendal/NSB (ISBN 82-05-19349-5)