Bergen Tramway
The tram depot at Møhlenpris, now housing the technical museum.
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| Overview | |
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| Locale | Bergen, Norway |
| Transit type | Tramway |
| Number of lines | 5 |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 29 June 1897 |
| Ended operation | 31 December 1964 |
| Operator(s) | Bergen Sporvei |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
| Heritage line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bergen Tramway was a tramway in Bergen, Norway, which was in operation from 1897 to 1965. The first three lines were opened on 29 June 1897. Starting in 1950, tramway lines were gradually replaced with bus and trolleybus routes. The last line closed in 1965. Since 1993, a heritage tram is operated in Møhlenpris by the Bergen's Electric Tramway association. A light rail system was proposed in 1995, adopted in the 2000s and started operating in 2010.
In 1882, a horse coach service for Bergen was proposed; it started operating in 1893. This mode of transportation did not gain much success, and ceased a few years later. The construction of a tramway was decided in 1894, and started one year later, with the German company Union-Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (UEG, later AEG) as the major shareholder.
The tramway opened on 29 June 1897, and was operated by the newly established Bergens Elektriske Sporvei. In the beginning, three lines ran through the city centre; from Bradbenken to Sukkerhusbryggen over Torget; from Småstrandgaten to Nygårdsbroen; and from Småstrandgaten to Kalfaret.
In 1898, the route from Nygårdsbroen merged with the route to Sandviken. Later, the line from Kalfaret to Småstrandgaten merged with line to Sukkerhusbryggen. In 1901, the branch line from the Sandviken line closed, the first tram closure in Norway. In 1910, the line to Sukkerhusbryggen closed. In 1911 the line to Møhlenpris opened;Nordnes had a new line five years later, extended to Bergen Railway Station in the 1920s. There were plans to create an interchange between the tramway and the Fløibanen funicular with a tram stop, but this did not happen.
The Bergen city fire in 1916 had a positive impact on the tramway. Large areas of the city centre burned to ashes and made space for additional lines, double track and more spacious tram stops. However, many of the tram depots burned down.
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Wikipedia