Bergensbanen

Northern Europe’s highest main line: over the bare Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 m, through 182 tunnels.

Hailed at its 1909 opening as the era’s greatest Norwegian engineering feat, the Bergen Line was built largely by hand across a roadless mountain plateau. The train climbs out of Oslo’s forests into Hallingdal, breaks the treeline near Geilo and crosses a tundra of rock, ice and hikers’ huts where snow fences guard the rails even in July. Finse, reachable only by rail or on foot, marks the top before the long fall through Voss to Bergen’s rain-washed harbour.

Stations

1. 0 kmOslo S
2. 14 kmSandvika
3. 23 kmAsker
4. 40 kmDrammen
5. 58 kmHokksund
6. 111 kmHønefoss
7. Show 8 more stations

   1. 172 kmFlå
   2. 205 kmNesbyen
   3. 221 kmGol
   4. 247 kmÅl
   5. 271 kmGeilo
   6. 283 kmUstaoset
   7. 319 kmFinse
   8. 335 kmHallingskeid
8. 348 kmMyrdal
9. 396 kmVoss
10. 433 kmDale
11. 467 kmArna
12. 476 kmBergen

The stations OpenStreetMap lists for this service, in order, with the distance along the line as drawn here. A train may skip some of them.

Along the way

• Hallingdal valley farms
• Geilo ski country
• Hardangerjøkulen glacier from Finse
• Myrdal — junction for the Flåmsbana
• Voss lake district
• Bergen’s fjord-side finale

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 9531101 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 65 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 19 m from it
• Checked against the running timetable via Entur: our line sits 0.1 km from the shape of Oslo S-Bergen
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the Bergensbanen?

The Bergensbanen runs 496 km from Oslo to Bergen.

How long does the Bergensbanen take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 6 h 30 min for the 496 km. That is an average of 76 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 160 km/h.

Who runs the Bergensbanen?

Vy.

How old is the Bergensbanen?

The line has been in service since 1909. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How high does the Bergensbanen climb?

1,237 m above sea level at its highest point.

View on the world railway map →

Read more on Wikipedia ↗