Gråkallbanen

Gråkallbanen
One of the Gråkallbanen trams at the St. Olav's Gate terminus
Info
Type	Tramway
System	Trondheim Tramway
Start station	St. Olav's Gate
End station	Lian
No. of stations	21
Operation
Opened	1924
Owner	Municipality of Trondheim
Operator(s)	Gråkallbanen AS
Technical
Line length	8.8 km
No. of tracks	1 (2 in the city streets)
Gauge	1 m (3 ft 33⁄8 in)

Gråkallbanen is a tram line located in Trondheim, Norway. It is the only tram line remaining in the city, following the termination of the rest of the tram line system in the city in 1988. The company operating the line sine 1990 is Gråkallbanen AS, is part of the Veolia Corporation.

The line is the northern-most tramway line in the world. It runs from the street St. Olav's Gate, through the districts of Byåsen and to Lian Station, a distance of 8.8 km. It serves as a transportation to the large recreation area of Bymarka. The company has six trams, of which four are needed for daily operation and two are in reserve. The trams operate on fixed 15 minute headway with a reduced 30 minute headway in the evenings and in the weekend.

The line was constructed in 1924, and is unusual in that it uses metre gauge, and that its upper section is single track. Located at Munkvoll Station is Trondheim Tramway Museum.

History

Though there had been a municipally owned tram company in Trondheim, Trondhjems Elektricitetsværk og Sporvei, since 1901, the first steps to building a tramway in Byåsen were taken in 1916 when A/S Graakalbanen was founded to build a tramway from the city centre via Byåsen to the mountain Gråkallen. The first strech to be opened was from St. Olav's Street to Munkvoll on July 18, 1924, after construction work lasting seven years. The line was extended to Ugla on May 30, 1925 and in 1933 to the present terminus at Lian. The financing of the first two stretches of the line was done through the company purchasing land from along the line and selling it for housing with a profit. The last stretch was financed through a separate company, A/S Ugla-Lian, that built the line and got 5 øre per rider on the line, but had no operating responsibility. The peak of Gråkallbanen was during World War II when the line had 2 million passenger annually, since the trams where the only transport systems that were operational during the war. After the war new investments were made, including loops in the city (1946) and at Lian (1947), double track from Breidablikk to Nordre Hoem (1948) and a new depot and workshop at Munkvoll in 1953. A/S Grakalbanen was bought by the city in 1966 and in 1974 merged with Trondheim Sporvei and Trondheim Bilruter to form Trondheim Trafikkselskap.

Closing and reopening

During the 1980s there was a lot of political debate about the future of the tram in Trondheim, and in 1983 the city council decided to close down Elgeseter Line, and keep only one line between Lian and Lade. At the same time 11 new trams were ordered and a new depot built at Munkvoll, costing in access of NOK 100 million. But in 1988 the city council changed their minds and closed the tramway in Trondheim. The tracks between St. Olav's Street and Lademoen were removed, but the tracks at Lade were kept, as were the tracks between St. Olav's Street and Lian. The latter was because enthusiasts had plans of operating veteran trams as a heritage railway.

But fate had other plans for Gråkallbanen. The Trondheim tramway is one of only two in the world, along with the Cairo Tramway, to use the combination of meter gauge and 2.6 metre wide cars. This made it practically impossible to sell the trams and finance the 20 new Scania buses that Trondheim Trafikkselskap needed to operate the bus route to Lian and Lade. In the end the 11 trams were not sold and instead a company owned by 1400 enthusiasts, Gråkallbanen AS, was created to operate the tram route, that started in 1990. In 2004 Veolia Transports division in Norway, Veolia Transport Norway bought the company. They paid NOK 1,8 million for the company, and invested another NOK 10,7 million after the purchase.

Stations

• St. Olav's Gate
• Dronningens gate
• Hospitalkirka
• Kalvskinnet
• Skansen
• Ila
• Bergsligate
• Nyveibakken
• Bygrensen
• Belveldere
• Breidablikk
• Nordre Hoem
• Søndre Hoem
• Rognheim
• Munkvoll
• Ferstad
• Ugla
• Kyvannet
• Vestmarka
• Herlofsonløypa
• Lian

Plans

This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available.

Gråkallbanen is working on a number of plans as of 2006. These include an extension of the network to the harbor area via Olav Trygvasons street and Trondheim Central Station.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trams in Trondheim

• AS Gråkallbanen Company web site (Norwegian)
• Trondheim Trams with extensive background and many photos