Bergen Tramway - History

History

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 was 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 Bergen 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; one line ran from Bradbenken to Sukkerhusbryggen over Torget, the second ran from Småstrandgaten to Nygårdsbroen, and the third ran from Småstrandgaten to Kalfaret.

In 1898, the tram from Nygårdsbroen was merged with the tram to Sandviken. Thereafter, the line from Kalfaret to Småstrandgaten was merged with the tram to Sukkerhusbryggen. In 1901, the branch line from the Sandviken line was closed, which happened to be the first tram closure in the history of Norway. In 1910, the line to Sukkerhusbryggen was closed. However, in 1911, a new tram line to Møhlenpris was established. Nordnes also received a new tram line five years later, which was expanded to Bergen Railway Station in the 1920s. There were plans to create a correspondence between the tramway and the Fløibanen funicular with a tram stop, but this did never happen.

The Bergen city fire in 1916 turned out to have a positive impact on the Bergen Tramway. Large areas of the city centre burned to ashes and made space for additional tram lines, double tracks and more spacious tram stops. However, many of the tram depots burned down as well.

In 1916, Shipowner Håkon J. Wallem purchased AEG's share of the tram company. He let the municipality of Bergen overtake the tramway, and from September 1917, the public-owned company Bergen Sporvei was responsible for the operation of trams.

Many of the lines were extended during the 1920s, and in 1932 the Bergen Tramway had its largest extent ever. In the 1930s many tram lines were replaced and supplemented with bus lines put up by Bergens Sporvei. The buses' share of the Bergen traffic grew larger during the 50s and 60s, and in December 1963, the Bergen City Council decided to close the city's tram network. The last tram traveled to Møhlen 31 December 1964. All of the wagons, except from one, were thereafter scrapped and lowered into Puddefjorden.

In 1974, The "Association for the Technical Museum in Bergen" was established, aiming at creating a heritage tram service running on the tracks of the former tramway. In 1991, a rental agreement of the tram depot at Møhlenpris was put in place, and in 1993 did the first tram wagon run on the newly created heritage line. The line is now served with five tram wagons; the one not scrapped in 1965, one old wagon from the Oslo Tramway painted yellow (pictured), and three wagons from Berlin built in 1969.

In 1995, it was decided that a light rail system from the city centre to Bergen Airport, Flesland would be constructed. The Bergen Light Rail started operating in 2010, with Variotrams delivered from Stadler Rail going on a stretch from Nesttun to the city centre. The stretch will be continued from Nesttun to Rådal in August 2010.