Trains and other things: Finse

Day 2 of my Norway trip starts in Hønefoss. Today I will continue the journey along Bergen railway with a stop at the highest located station in Norway - Finse.

I'm on my way to the station.

The station is located at the intersection between the Bergen Line, the Randsfjord Line and the Roa–Hønefoss Line. The station is designed as a V-shape keilbahnhof.

The bridge over Begna river

A freight coach for Arctic rail express

Waiting hall

3 daily trains to Bergen/Oslo.

Day trains have 10 coaches each

Norwegian Heritage Trains (NMT) organisation has its base here

Roa–Hønefoss Line is today only used by freight trains.

This one is arriving from Kongsvinger, I know that since I saw these locomotives the day before

It's Hector Rail 161.104 "Doyle", previously El 15 from NSB and Hector Rail 941.001 "Morricone", Vossloh G2000

This electric locomotive is used until Hønefoss

While this diesel locomotive is used on the non-electrified part of the Randsfjordbanen

My first train is arriving from Oslo

As I mentioned in my previous post, some trains were completely sold out days before the departure. This one was completely sold out several days before, but then some seats became available, so I reserved a seat through NSB call service (as the only way to do that with Interrail pass).

Seat reservations are free for 1st class Interrail, and cost 50NOK for 2nd class. There are no 1st class on Norwegian trains, however there is a Komfort class that costs 90NOK extra (or free for Interrail 1st class).

I'm continuing my journey toward Bergen

The Bergen Line is a 371km long railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss. It is the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe, crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at 1237m above sea level.

The train was full as I said

Flå

Nesbyen

Bridge over Hallingdalselva

Gol

Torpo

Ål

We have now reached 436 m

Ustaoset

I have now reached my stop for this journey - Finse.

The station opened 1909, and the train is the only way of transportation here.

Shortly after the station, is the Finse tunnel 10,3km and it is the longest tunnel on the line.

Finse 1222 hotel is open for the winter season from January to the end of May, and the summer season is open from July to mid-October.

Finse is located near the glacier Hardangerjøkulen

There are both winter and summer activities here. In the summer it is possible to bike along the railway.

During the winter, the nearby lake Finsevatnet is frozen and it is possible to do ski skiing.

The station building

While planning my trip I was worried that the weather conditions would not be good enough here for my 4h visit (that is the frequency of the trains here). I have been watching a webcam transmission from this camera for days before my visit.

At the end I felt very lucky with the weather. Here is a screen shot of me from the webcam.

Entrance to the hotel

The hotel has a nice decoration

And even more important for my visit it had a place to eat and drink

Which is what i did here. Here is me eating "rallarsuppe".

After spending some time inside, I decided to check out the surroundings before the arrival of the next train.

The place is very popular among Norwegians.

I have even climbed a hill to get a nice view of the station

The village has some houses

The corridor between the two hotel buildings is an old railway coach

Waiting hall at the station

Inside there are posters displaying the history of Finse

The surroundings were a bit scary

A train is arriving from Bergen

The line is operated mainly with NSB El 18 locomotive and Type 7 coaches, at least during my visit.

The stop here takes some time due to the amount of luggage the passenger bring to/from here

After a long stop, the train is ready to leave

I'm walking inside the coach that is used as a corridor

Catenary inspection train LM2 built by Levahn has now arrived to Finse

Shortly after it is joined by Levahn 128-b (30-36-5091)

After clearing the main track, it is ready for next passenger train departure

The next train from Oslo to Bergen is arriving 4h after my previous train. Since it is also nearly full, I decide to take the train which is about to arrive just 20min after this one. The next train is not from Oslo, but from Ål, and I'm sure it will be less crowded.

Since 2015, the NSB El 18 locomotives have got "Se Norge. Ta toget" livery ("See Norway, take the train"), which is a communication concept from NSB and the Norwegian Tourist Association.

The train is disappearing in a snow protection structure and later the tunnel.

Finally, my train is arriving

This service is from Ål to Bergen, and it is only operated on Sundays.

While the Bergen-Oslo trains had Type 7 coaches built 1982-1988, this train has Type 5 coaches built between 1977-1981, but looks very fresh after refurbishment made 2010.