Bergen to open its new light rail system – Bybanen

Forty-five years after trams disappeared from the streets of Bergen, 20 years after serious planning began, 10 years after financing was secured through the continuation of the city’s toll ring, five years after design started and two and a half years after the start of construction, Bybanen, the new light rail system in Bergen will be opened by Her Majesty Queen Sonja of Norway on 22 June 2010. A 20km-long line between the city centre and the Bergen airport at Flesland was approved by the Bergen City Council in March 2000 and a project office, ‘Bybanekontoret’, was established in August 2001 to coordinate the planning and design activities for the system. Due to budgetary constraints, the northern half of the line, from the city centre to Nesttun with a length of 10km, was built with construction starting in January 2008. This article will describe the background for the planned system, details about the political process, the financing scheme, the initial section which will open on 22 June 2010, as well as approved future extensions and planning activities.

Background and history

Bergen, on the western coast of Norway, has 250,000 inhabitants and is the civic, business and retail centre for a region with a population of 350,000.

Bergen Sporvei was established in 1897 and operated a tram system in the city until 1965. There was a transition period during the 1950s whereby some tramlines were converted to trolleybus operations. Today, there is still one trolleybus line operating with six new articulated buses.

Transportation developments during the last four decades

The discovery of oil and gas reserves off the coast of Norway in the 1970s has led to an increase in economic activity, a higher standard of living, changing and spreading patterns of development and of course an ever-increasing level of transportation activities. Due to the relatively small size of the city, it was natural for planners to base most of their efforts on the use of the private automobile as the principal mode of transportation. As in many other countries, however, there is a growing awareness that it is difficult to continue to construct new highways to meet the everincreasing demands of private automobile transport. Therefore, the national transportion policy in Norway is to make public transport a more important part of the total transportation picture in the larger cities of Norway.

Efforts began over 20 years ago to begin looking at alternatives to highway construction in the 10 largest cities in Norway: the cities that had or expected to have transportation problems, congestion or environmental concerns in the future. There was also a great deal of interest due to the opening of new light rail systems in places like Grenoble, Nantes, Montpelier and Lyon in France, as well Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Croydon in England.

Bergen chooses light rail

The introduction of a light rail system is part of a major effort to improve the public transport system in the Bergen region. In close cooperation with the City of Bergen, the Hordaland County Council has approved a strategic plan for public transportation, which hopes to increase public transport service by approximately 50% throughout the Bergen region. A public transport vision has been approved for Bergen based on light rail, the extension of the existing trolleybus line and new express bus services to neighbouring communities.

The County Council has established a public transportation authority called SKYSS to coordinate all activities. The authority has responsibility for marketing, information, service levels and contracting of services to private operators.

Transportation financing in Bergen

Ever since the abandonment of the tram system in 1965, there has been an interest in reestablishing high quality rail transport in the Bergen valley.

In the early 1970s, a major plan to build an extensive regional rail system was launched. At that time, it was decided to concentrate on highway construction, as the road network in Bergen was inadequate. However, there were major problems in obtaining funds for highway construction from the national government.

The local offices of the Norwegian Highway Authority struggled in the 1970s to obtain funds for the needed highway construction in the region around Bergen. In 1985, based on a proposal first advanced by highway officials, a toll ring was established around the centre of Bergen in order to collect monies for an accelerated programme of road building in the Bergen region. The legislation for this toll system was valid for 15 years and was an agreement between the local authorities and the national government. A significant amount of road building occurred in Bergen with major highways to the north and west, a bypass tunnel around the city centre and major improvements in the road network towards the south.

In 2000, the politicians decided it was time to begin thinking about the toll ring and whether it would continue to function as a way of generating funds for transportation investment. It quickly became apparent that it would be difficult to gain political consensus for a continuation of the toll ring if all of the funds were dedicated to continuing road con – struction. Some political parties, especially those with a strong environmental profile, were opposed to continuing reliance on the auto – mobile as the prime method of transportation. A compromise was reached whereby approximately half of the funding would be used for highway construction and the other half used for public transportation, bicycle paths and other environmental schemes.

In December 2002, The National Parliament of Norway (‘Stortinget’) approved the Bergen’s Programme for the Environment, Development and Transport. The budget for this program for the period 2003-2012 is approximately €700 million; about €400 million is raised directly by the toll ring. The remaining €300 million will be funded from national, county and local government budgets.

Two major transportation projects are being implemented: a new ring road around the western area of the city and the light rail line from the city centre to the Flesland airport. Each of the projects was preliminarily estimated to cost approximately €300 million. During the budgeting process it became obvious that there was only about €300 million available for both projects during the first 10-year budget period. Each of the projects was then cut in half as a political compromise.

The first section of the light rail line, approximately 10km-long and stretching only from the centre of the Bergen to Nesttun, has a budget of approximately €250 million. It has been constructed within this budget and is opening on time.

Public discussion

Like many other cities considering, planning or building light rail systems, the planned Bergen system is not without its critics. Because it is difficult to plan and construct an extensive system in all directions at once, there is a geographic bias against the project. This is exacerbated because of the financing scheme for the project. A significant amount of the construction funds are being raised by the toll system, which all vehicles, regardless of direction, pay. The question is then raised: “Why should those living to the north or the west pay for a system that is first being built to the southern sections of the city?”

The major private bus company, Gaia Trafikk (now TIDE), also argued strenuously against the project, defending the ability of buses to provide a comparable level of service and requiring a much lower level of investment.

Bergen’s population is concentrated in valleys spreading out radially from the town centre and harbour area. The most populous of these is called the Bergen valley and it is here that the first section of the system will be built.

Technical description of the overall project

The ambition in Bergen is to build a modern, light rail system based on the positive, inter – national experience of the past 30 years. The Bergen light rail system is based, to a large extent, on German rules and regulations including BOStrab and the various VDV guidelines for infrastructure, vehicles and operations. The alignment has a maximum gradient of 6% and minimum curves of 25 meters.

The project is based on standard rolling stock: 100% low-floor modular vehicles of the Variobahn type with a width of 2.65m which are now being delivered by Stadler Pankow GmbH. Platforms are 40m-long. A review of possible stops quickly showed that longer platforms would be in direct conflict with the pattern of development in the centre of Bergen. Therefore the system will be based on single vehicle operation, with vehicle lengths of 42m or less. The system is integrated in the urban environment in the centre of the city, as Bergen is an important cultural, historic and business centre, as well as a major tourist destination.

Significant time savings for existing bus passengers are expected. This is not because the rail vehicles operate much faster than buses, but rather because priority for the rail line is insured along its entire length, either in the form of a separate right-of-way or signal priority at road crossings. Bus journeys on the first segment between the city centre and Nesttun will take around 20 minutes. Bus travel today on the same segment can vary from 20 minutes during off-peak periods to 40-50 minutes during rush periods.

Travel times are also improved, especially during peak periods, because of efficient ticketing and low-floor vehicle access through many doors.

A coordinated and extensive feeder bus system, as well as parking facilities at major stops, is also being implemented as part of the project. As mentioned, the county agency SKYSS regulates public transport services and there is no danger of direct competition from bus services. Ticketing will also be integrated with other transport services, so that a oneticket ride is insured. A new smart-card ticketing system is now being introduced. Real-time information will be provided at all stops and transfers between the rail system and feeder buses will be monitored and controlled to insure customer satisfaction.

Description of the first section

The first section is 9.8km-long with 15 stops. 95% of the line is separated from other traffic; only 500m in the city centre is shared with bus traffic. Light rail operations are given total priority over other traffic along the entire length of the line.

One of the unusual features of the system is the presence of four tunnels with a total length of 2.5km of the initial 10km section. Tunnels are not unusual in Norway and, due to the favourable geologic conditions which are frequently encountered, are not prohibitively expensive. There will however not be any stations in tunnels, as these would be extremely expensive to build and operate.

The system will be operated by Fjord1 Partner (a joint venture of Fjord1 and Keolis Nordic) with twelve 100% low-floor vehicles of the type Variobahn produced by Stadler Pankow GmbH in Berlin. These 32m, 2.65-wide vehicles have space for 84 seated passengers and 128 standees for a total of over 200 passengers per vehicle.

A standard overhead wire system has been installed by Alstom and provides 750 volt DC from six rectifier stations.

All operations and monitoring of the system infrastructure is carried out from the operations control centre (OCC) at Kronstad. The OCC is located in the old railway station built for the Bergen railway between Bergen and Oslo, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. Thales has provided most of the signalling and information technology for the system.

Commercial service will be ramped up from a slow start in the summer of 2010. During the first period from June until August, service will be operated at 15 minute headways and a trip time of 25 minutes to allow time for public familiarisation with this type of rail operations and thereby insure safe operations. In the autumn, service will speed up and service headways will be reduced. It is expected a service level with 5-minute headways in each direction during the peak traffic periods and 10 minutes during the off-peak and a trip time of 21 minutes can be realised by 1 November 2010.

Extensions and future plans

The first priority is to complete the line to the Bergen airport at Flesland. This extension will be built in two sections. The first section from Nesttun to Rådal is approximately 4km-long and will have five stops added with the terminal at Rådal incorporated within Lagunen, the largest shopping complex in the region. An option for five additional Variobahn vehicles has already been called to provide enough vehicles for the extension to Rådal, which will open in 2013.

The final section to the airport from Rådal will be approximately 6km-long and will have six stops. This section is now in the public hearing process and it is hoped to have it completed by 2016.

Other planned extensions are from the city centre to Åsane to the north (10km, <10 stops) and to Fyllingsdalen to the west via the regional hospital (6km, six stops).

The timing of these other extensions is uncertain at this time and is largely dependent on the level of commitment provided by the national government. Toll revenues are unfortunately insufficient to maintain con – tinuous construction of the light rail lines and highways. However, if the first section is a success it is hoped that increased level of funding for accelerated and continuous construction can be secured from the national level. Stay tuned!

About the author

Thomas J. Potter
Thomas J. Potter is the Chief Engineer at Bybanen AS, a publiclyowned company responsible for the management, maintenance and operation of the infrastructure and rolling stock of the new Bergen Light Rail System. He is also Project Manager for Vehicle Procurement. Mr. Potter has worked for the realisation of light rail in Bergen since 1988. He is a member of the UITP Light Rail Committee, the TRB Light Rail Committee, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Norwegian Society of Graduate Technical and Scientific Professionals.