Bekkelaget Tunnel
The southern mouth in 1958, with the new station. The old Bekkelaget Station is to the left.
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Bekkelagstunnelen |
| Line | Østfold Line |
| Location | Bekkelaget, Oslo, Norway |
| Coordinates | 59°53′06″N 10°46′15″E / 59.8850°N 10.7707°ECoordinates: 59°53′06″N 10°46′15″E / 59.8850°N 10.7707°E |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 14 April 1955 |
| Opened | 7 September 1958 |
| Owner | Norwegian National Rail Administration |
| Technical | |
| Length | 578 m (1,896 ft) |
| No. of tracks | Double |
| Track gauge | Standard gauge |
| Electrified | 15 kV 16 2⁄3 Hz AC |
| Width | 9.55 m (31.3 ft) |
| Grade | 1.0 % |
The Bekkelaget Tunnel (Norwegian: Bekkelagstunnelen) is a 578-meter (1,896 ft) long railway tunnel which carries two tracks of the Østfold Line past Bekkelaget in Oslo, Norway. Construction started 14 April 1955, after a landslide on 3 October 1953 had caused damage to the railway. The tunnel was built to allow for space for the road of Mosseveien. The tunnel opened on 7 October 1958. Bekkelaget Station was located on the section of track which was closed, and a new station was built at the southern mouth. It closed on 29 May 1983.
The Bekkelaget Tunnel is 578 meters (1,896 ft) long and runs through the mountainside through Bekkelaget, carrying the double-tracked Østfold Line. The tunnel is 9.55 meters (31.3 ft) wide and is electrified at 15 kV 16 2⁄3 Hz AC. Its northern end is situated 3.08 kilometers (1.91 mi) from Oslo Central Station (Oslo S). The tunnel has a minimum curve radius of 400 meters (1,300 ft) and a gradient of 1.0 percent climbing southwards.
The Østfold Line opened on 2 January 1879. Through Bekkelaget it originally ran in a day section along a right-of-way slightly elevated above Mosseveien. A landslide took place on 7 October 1953, in which both part of the railway tracks and the road were caught. More than eighty people were in the zone, but only five people were killed—four in a bus and one from a heart attack on a train. The temporary solution was to blast a 300-meter (980 ft) shelf into the hillside and move the tracks further in. Work commenced on 9 October and trains could pass on 24 October.
NSB had previously been looking at possibilities of bypassing Bekkelaget with a tunnel. A zoning plan from 1946 called for the widening of Mosseveien and expropriation for this had already taken place. NSB was after the slide of the opinion that the railway could be repaired easily and that with investments of 700,000 Norwegian kroner the area could be secured to allow trains to pass on the new shelf. The Public Roads Administration was of a different opinion. They wanted to widen Mosseveien and needed the area the railway occupied for this widening. They, NSB and the Port of Oslo started negotiations in late 1953. The latter two pressed for the railway to be place in a tunnel to free up space for the road. NSB was not opposed to placing the line in a tunnel, but was not willing to pay the extra cost. Several tunnel alternatives were discussed, including one which would run from near Oslo East Station to Hauketo Station, about 7 kilometers (4 mi). The issue eventually reached a political level and was approved by the government on 24 December 1954.
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