page_title: Flåm Line
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Flåm Line / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: The Flåm Line near Rjoandefossen
context_page_description: The Flåm Line is a 20.2-kilometer long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland Municipality, in Vestland county, Norway. A branch line of the Bergen Line, it runs through the valley of Flåmsdalen and connects the mainline with Sognefjord. The line's elevation difference is 866 meters; it has ten stations, twenty tunnels and one bridge. The maximum gradient is 5.5 percent. Because of its steep gradient and picturesque nature, the Flåm Line is now almost exclusively a tourist service and has become the third-most visited tourist attraction in Norway.
  Construction of the line started in 1924, with the line opening in 1940. It allowed the district of Sogn access to Bergen and Oslo via the Bergen Line. Electric traction was taken into use in 1944; at first El 9 locomotives were used, and from 1982 El 11. Until 1991, the train connected with a ferry service from Flåm to Gudvangen. In 1992, freight services were terminated, and due to low ticket prices and high operating costs, the line was nearly closed. In 1998, Flåm Utvikling took over marketing and ticket sale for the line, prices were heavily increased and El 17 locomotives were introduced.
context_section_description: The administration office for the construction was established in 1923 and was until 1935 located at Voss. In that period, construction was led by Peter Bernhard Kristian Lahlum, who was also responsible for the Hardanger Line. After the Hardanger Line was completed, Lahlum retired, and the office was moved to Flåm where responsibility was taken over by Adolph M. B. Kielland. To start with, there were 120 men working on the construction, although this quickly increased to 220. The numbers fluctuated between that and as low as 80, although hit an all-time high of 280 people in 1937. To house the employees, eight barracks were built. Among the first things built were housing and station buildings, which could then be used by people working on the construction. The local economy was stimulated by farmers being paid for transport. Using horses, they would transport tourists by day and building materials by night. The competition was fierce, resulting in fights for customers, although it calmed down after traffic police were introduced.
  In 1924, there was a landslide at Høga, covering the area planned for the railway. The area was made of phyllite and was the geologically most unstable area on the route. The initial response was to plan for a tunnel past the area, but this was quickly rejected because of the high price. Instead, the line was moved further away from the mountain side. Other slides during construction included an avalanche near Store Reppa on 10 February 1925, which deposited up to 3.5 meters (11 ft) of earth. In April 1925, a 1,000 cubic meters (35,000 cu ft) landslide took place above Berekvam. On 8 February 1928, an avalanche did some damage to the right-of-way near Nåli.
  The tunnels were the most difficult and time-consuming part of construction. Of the twenty tunnels, machines were only used for the Nåli and Vatnahalsen Tunnels—the rest were built by hand. Hand-construction was done by  drilling up to 4.2 meters (14 ft) through the rock, filling the holes with dynamite and blasting. Construction of  tunnels started in 1924 and the first tunnel was completed in 1926; the last tunnel was completed in 1935. On average, tunneling proceeded at between 116 and 180 man-hours per meter (35–55 hr/ft). The work caused death or lifelong respiratory problems through silicosis caused by inhaling the smoke. There were two fatal accidents, one in 1925 and one 1938, both related to tunnel work.
  Ten stations were built for the line, including a major upgrade to Myrdal and port facilities at Flåm. Myrdal Station was given side tracks and additional buildings to serve transferring passengers, with the upgrades costing NOK 0.5 million. Breikvam was the only place on-route which received a passing loop. Flåm Station cost NOK 0.8 million and was designed in the 1930s NSB simple wooden functionalist style, similar to what is found on the Nordland Line and the Sørland Line. Other stations received small, wooden buildings with a waiting room, as well as a room for cargo at Vatnahalsen, Håreina and Dalsbotn.
  Laying of tracks started in 1936, and was assisted by two steam locomotives. The work started at Myrdal and reached Reinunga the first year, Kjosfossen Tunnel the second year and the Blomheller Tunnel in 1939. The first train to operate on a regular schedule was in October 1939, when a freight train between Myrdal and Berekvam ran three times a week. However, this service was stopped by the end of the month. With the German occupation of Norway in 1940, work started later in the season, but the German authorities wanted to speed up the work to make the line usable for steam trains that same year. They scheduled the line for completion in 1942. Track laying work was accelerated by increasing the number of workers from 58 to 195. Regular freight operation on the Flåm Line started on 1 August 1940, albeit limited to an axle load of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons). At the time there were four trains each day, two in each direction.
  Passenger trains started running on 10 February 1941, also with two trains in each direction 
caption: The line near Rjoandefossen in 1942
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