On Sunday, the public can try out the new light rail to Fyllingsdalen in Bergen for free until 6 p.m. The day started with trouble due to frost on the overhead lines. But a good hour late, the track was in operation. Nicolas Øyane and sons Oliver (9) and Jonas (6) were among the first passengers to test out the new line. All three are satisfied so far. – I think I will eventually use the new track. This is future-oriented and environmentally friendly, he says. SATISFACTION: Nicolas Øyane and his sons Oliver and Jonas are well in Fyllingsdalen after testing the fast, new light rail line. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news Last but not least, the new light rail can boast of going through the 70 km/h tunnel through the mountain Løvstakken between Bergensdalen and Fyllingsdalen. It is faster than the average speed for both the subway in Oslo and the subway in New York. – It almost went too fast, says Kari Steffensen. She and her husband Arne Steffensen think the new line on the light rail is great. – We have followed the development, so it is so exciting to travel with him now. I think I will use the track a lot. It is efficient and straightforward. It almost went too fast, she says. See the whole trip minute by minute at the bottom of the article! QUICK TRIP: (From left) Arne and Kari Steffensen test the new light rail. Photo: Silje Rognsvåg / news Lucrative effect The official opening with a visit by ministers and mayors and county mayors in Bunad was on Friday. Regular scheduled traffic starts Monday morning. PROUD: From the left, county mayor Jon Askeland, minister Jon-Ivar Nygård and acting mayor Linn Kristin Engø. Photo: Charlotte Sanden / news This is the second light rail line in the city. The first line between the city center and Bergen airport was opened in 2010 and has led to major changes along the light rail route when it comes to urban development and housing construction. The prices of houses along the line have also increased, according to Professor Ola H. Grytten at the Department of Social Economics at the Norwegian School of Economics. He also sees a development when it comes to business development. – It has had a very positive effect, and much greater than I saw before me. The workforce can take the light rail there, and the companies will be centrally located, says Grytten. The development of the Bybanen i Bergen The construction of the Bybanen in Bergen was approved in the year 2000. The development of line 1 to Flesland started in January 2008. The section Bergen center-Nesttun opened on 22 June 2010. The section Nesttun-Lagunen opened on 21 June 2013. The section Lagunen- Birkelandsskiftet opened on 15 August 2016. The section BIrkelandsskiftet-Flesland opened on 22 April 2017. The development of line 2 to Fyllingsdalen started in 2018. The section opens on 21 November 2022. Stronger pressure on property Line 2 to the district of Fyllingsdalen will also lead to major upheavals that the next ten years, believes director Tarje Wanvik of the Planning and Building Agency in Bergen. He points out that line 1 has had an enormous effect on transport years, with 75,000 passengers in and out of the city center every day. – One has turned the whole city in a southerly direction and put stronger pressure on private property. In Fyllingsdalen, on the other hand, there is only one light rail stop, and it is already quite densely developed, he points out. – In the central region, I think there will be a greater shift from business to housing. Time will tell if we continue to build the light rail towards Spelhaugen or if the development takes place first via Laksevåg. Expect 35,000 passengers Not everyone has been enthusiastic about the development of the light rail lines. Wanvik admits that the municipality has not been good enough to listen to the residents in the processes. – Here we as a city and urban community have learned a lot along the way, that the first projects were probably not as considerate as they should have been. We are better equipped today to carry out gentle and good sustainable urban development than ten or twenty years ago, says Wanvik. Now the forecast is that the Fyllingsdalen line will receive 35,000-40,000 passengers daily in 2040, according to the municipality’s project manager for the Environmental Lift, Solveig Mathiesen. According to Skyss, they expect a gradual increase in the same way as they have seen for light rail line 1, where growth has also exceeded previous forecasts. From the left director Tarje Wanvik and project manager Solveig Mathiesen. Photo: Privat Beating New York at speed Perhaps it will tempt the people of Bergen extra that they will now have a subway that can beat Oslo and New York at speed with its 70 km/h through the mountains. But right must be right: even if “everyone” thinks the Bergen light rail has been a huge success, the subway in Oslo had 119 million passengers and light rail line 1 (between Bergen city center and the airport) only 18.7 million in 2019. After the corona pandemic, Oslo 55 million and Bergen 14 million in 2021. By comparison, New York has 5.7 million passengers on the subway per weekday. Path to Vestland’s largest workplace Anyway: Optimism is great when an entire district now suddenly gets a “highway to Torgallmenningen”: The journey takes 16 minutes through the mountains, from Fyllingsdalen to the center of Bergen via Haukeland University Hospital, which is Vestland county’s largest workplace. – This is a completely new dressing that we think will be used a lot. Not least, Haukeland hospital is in the middle of the line with thousands of jobs, says Mathiesen. – Where do these 40,000 daily passengers come from? Are they former drivers, or people who used to take the bus? – What we see on the line to Flesland is that bus use is also increasing. That is because we are developing the entire public transport system with both rail and bus. We expect the same to happen with the path to Fyllingsdalen, says Mathiesen. And to those who fear they will freeze to death when line 2 is fully operational: Bybanen AS assures that they will de-icing the night of Monday. – We had not done this last night. On cold mornings where the temperature is around 0 degrees, ice can form, especially in exposed places along the line. We are following this, says Geir Østerfeldt in Bybanen AS to news. Here you get the entire trip from the center to Fyllingsdalen, minute by minute.
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The new light rail in Bergen is faster than the subway in New York – news Vestland
