Oslo is Norway’s capital, but Bergen is Norway’s second-largest city. It is a town that sits on the west coast of Norway in the middle of 7 mountains circulating it which is Europes wettest city. It rains a lot and that’s why Bergen’s many reasons for having a light rail system is great.
I recommend everyone to visit Bergen once in a lifetime. It is a unique gem in Norway and in my view a much prettier city to visit than Oslo. Not only is the city itself prettier but also their choice for public transportation solutions.
The Oslo’s trams are nice if the politicians made it run on their own streets without traffic but instead they are often stuck in traffic while Bergen’s modern light rail system named ‘Bybanen’ is built so that it’s not stuck. It is a huge success and a reason why the light rail in Aarhus, Denmark was built. Now Line 2 is under construction!
Haukeland hospital Light Rail Underground Station
The Light Rail ‘Bybanen’ in Bergen opened in 2010. It is now 10 years old. The ridership has increased more and more which have resulted in several expansions of Line 1. Here is the official timeline for the construction
And now Line 2 is finally getting constructed with Norway’s very first underground light rail station named Haukland Sykehus. Line 2 is actually in heavy development. The line will run between Byparken which is situated in the city center of Bergen.
Then Line 2 will run on its own after Nonneseter station to Lungegårdskaien and Møllendal station before it will go into a tunnel taking travelers to Haukeland Sykehus station which will be Norway’s first underground station for a light rail tramway system in the country. Haukeland hospital is the biggest hospital in the region. With having a station beneath it. This light rail stop will take passengers directly beneath the hospital.
Next station after Haukeland will be Kronstad where Line 2 will be crossing Line 1. From here it will reach Kanalveien, Kristianborg, Fyllingsdalen terminal, and Spelhaugen. Line 2 will run through the longest light rail tramway tunnel too, which I will go into details later.
Underground Light Rail Stations is common in Europe
In many European countries such as Germany, Poland, Belgium, Spain, France, and The Netherlands underground stations that light rail trams use are common to see. But in Norway, the politicians seem to have been very skeptical about it. It’s like they just don’t want to admit how great they are. Light Rail trams are flexible. But still, many politicians in Norway think that tramways can’t go underground or go on the same railway tracks as the trains.
This faulty propaganda made by many politicians in Norway makes it difficult to convince other politicians to support such an idea. But Bergen managed to rescue the city with good arguments. They somehow managed to make politicians understand and so they granted ‘Bybanen’, which is now a humongous success.
Politicians everywhere Needs to understand that light rail is the Future
In this article, I personally want to say hi to all politicians in the world that doubt the possibility to have trams going underground.
All sorts of trams, light rail, duo trams or metros can be built in various ways and I am very happy that Bergen got the green light to do it. Light Rail should take over local train lines and link towns and villages in Norway too like the Traunseetram in Gmunden area of Austria is doing.
Also, Aarhus in Denmark has taken Bergen’s idea a step further and built duo trams running like a local train in the area. It is a huge success. Light Rail trains don’t require more space. In fact, they require almost nothing. Small stations with support wheelchairs and baby trollers don’t need much space and so the costs running them is almost nothing.
Finally, Bergen is getting an underground light rail station. These images were all put on Facebook and on the Hordaland page. Distrita has got the right to post Bybanen light rail images from a long time ago as we have been covered this light rail system for a long time.
For more maps regarding Bergen Light Rail, I urge you to check this map and info site. Urbanrail is a really good site where you can find tons of maps of worldwide cities public transportation systems.
Distrita will follow this up.
