Trondheim Tramway

Trondheim Tramway

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Locale	Trondheim, Norway
Transit type	Tram
Began operation	1901
System length	8.8 km
No. of lines	1
No. of stations	21
Daily ridership	800,000/year
Track gauge	1 m
Operator	GråkallBanen

Trondheim Tramway located in Trondheim, Norway consists presently of one 8.8 km tramway line, Gråkallbanen, from St. Olav's Gate in the city centre throgh Byåsen to Lian Station in Bymarka. The line, Line 1, is operated by Gråkallbanen AS and is often simply called Gråkallbanen. Gråkallbanen operates six tram cars, in addition to heritage cars run by Trondheim Tramway Museum.

The tram operates at 15 minute headway in the daytime on weekdays, otherwise with 30 minutes headway. The line has 21 stations remaining in use. The tram service is integrated into the city bus system with free transfers.

Previously there were three lines in Trondheim, including Ladelinjen to Lade and Singsakerlinjen to Singsaker in addition to tracks to Ila, Elgeseter, Trondheim Central Station and Lademoen. The line to Singsaker was closed in 1968 while the rest of the network was closed in 1983 and 1988, though the line to Lian was reopened in 1990. The tramway is the most northern in the world, after the Arkhangelsk tram was closed on July 24 2004. Trondheim is also unique in that it is one of two railways in Norway with meter gauge (1000 mm) (along with the heritage railway Thamshavnbanen) and that the tramway is one of two in the world (along with the Cairo Tram) to use 2.6 m wide cars in combination with meter gauge).

History

Trondheim Sporvei

Trondheim was the third city in Norway to get an electric tram line after Oslo in 1875 and Bergen in 1887. The tram line in Trondheim opened in 1893 as a horsecar and was followed up with electrification of the line by the newly estalished municipally owned Trondheim Energiverk og Sporvei and opened on December 3 1901. The first line was between Ilsvolden in Ila and Buran in Lademoen via the city center. This first line was numbered 1, but was soon supplemented with a line 2, Elgeseterlinjen, that went from Trondheim Central Station via the city center to Magnus den Godes Steet at Elgeseter and was completed in 1913, with an expansion to the depot at Dalsenget in 1923, two years after Line 1 had been expanded with a loop at Buran and a depot at Voldsminde (in 1913).

By 1927 a new line, Singsakerlinjen was constructed leaving Elgeseterlinjen at Studentersamfundet and going to Ankers gate at Singsaker, with an expansion to Asbjørnsens gate in 1935. During World War II the passenger numbers peaked on the tramway and in 1955 a loop was created on Singsakerlinjen down to Rosenborg and back via Kristiansten Fort. Three years later, in 1958, the 2.65 km Ladebanen was built from Lademoen to Lade. The second half of this stretch was the only part of the municipally built to be single track and to not be in the street.

Gråkallbanen

The new and old depot at Munkvoll Station on Gråkallbanen

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 stretch to be opened was from St. Olav's gate 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. 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. 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 Graakallbanen was bought by the city in 1966.

Closing and reopening

Between 1958 and 1968 the tram network of Trondheim was at its peak, and had four lines:

• Line 1: Ilevolden – Torvet – Lademoen
• Line 2: Elgeseter – Torvet – Lade
• Line 3: Singsaker – Torvet – Jernbanen
• Graakalbanen: Lian – St. Olav's Gate

In 1968 Line 3, Singsakerlinjen and the branch line from Søndre Gate to Trondheim Central Station, was closed and replaced with bus (Line 63). The main argument at the time was that a tram required both a driver and a conductor, while a bus only required a driver, thus lowering the operation costs. This development was partially driven through with the removal of regulations on car ownership in Norway in 1960, resulting in an explosion in the use of cars in Trondheim and thus falling passenger numbers on the trams. The tracks were simply paved over, and still exist under the streets. At the time of the closure Line 3 was operating at a 5 minute headway with 2.3 million passengers. One year after the busses had taken over the passenger numbers had dropped 30%, and the consequence was fewer and fewer bus departures resulting in fewer passengers. In the end the headway was reduced to 45 minutes. In 1974 the three public transport companies in Trondheim, all three owned by the city, were merged to create Trondheim Trafikkselskap (now Team Trafikk, part of Nettbuss).

But the most troubled era for the tram service in Trondheim was in the 1980s, when the future of the tram was one of the hottest political issues in Trondheim, resulting in several mayors having to leave office. The debate about the future of the tram had been going through the late 1970s, in general with the left side of the city council supporting the tram while the right side wanted to close it down. After the city council election in 1979 the Progress Party got its first representative in the city council, Hildur Karstensen, who was a tram driver for TT. Though the Conservative mayor, Axel Buch, was expected to be relelected, Kristiansen chose to support the Labour candidate Olav Gjærevoll, in the hope that a socialist majority would secure the trams, and thus making Gjærevoll mayor.

A tram car at St. Olav's Gate on Gråkallbanen

Two years later though, the Labour Party had definitively changed its mind in the tram debate, and chose an alliance with the Conservatives, creating a Labour-Conservative alliance with Anne-Kath. Parow (Labour) as mayor and Axel Bush as vice mayor. In 1982 the future of the tram line was again taken up in the city council, and this time the Socialist Left Party (SV) chose to support closure of the tram lines. The first time the decision was taken up in the council, SV chose to support the closure, denying two of its members to vote against. But then the tram's future was taken up for a second voting, and the two disagreeing members of SV chose to vote against the closure of the tram line, and thus the city council voted to keep the trams, with 44 vs. 41 votes. The city council decided at the same time to build a new depot at Munkvoll and purchase 11 new trams, at a cost of NOK 100 million. The opposition claimed that there would be cheaper to operate the line with diesel busses. But the compromise also meant that the least robust part of the tramway was to be discontinued, thus the only line to survive was Lian-Lade. The line to Elgeseter was closed in 1983.

But by 1987 the tramways existence was threatened again, depite a new party, Bylista, had been established to fight for the existence of the tram. Before the 1987 election, the city council chose to close down the entire tramway network in the city in 1988. The entire network was removed in the city core and to Elgeseter and Lademoen. The tram lines to Lian and Lade (which were not in the steets) were not removed. In 1989 there was again mayor election in the city council, and Bylista chose to not support the present mayor Per Berge (Labour) and instead chose to support the Conservative candidate Marvin Wiseth, who was willing to allow a private company to operate the tram.

After the political deal securing the tram operation, a new company, Gråkallbanen AS, was established to operate the tram line from St. Olav's Gate to Lian. The company was owned by 1400 local idealists who wanted the tram to survive. Gråkallbanen AS only operated the one line. In 2005 the company was bought by Veolia Transport Norway.

Future expansion

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.

Advocates for the tram have suggested expanding the tram from its present terminus at St. Olav's Gate through the city core to Trondheim Central Station or Nedre Elvehavn onwards to Brattøra and Trondheim Port. This has been supported by the city council, but no definite decision has been made. Estimates of costs lay betweeen NOK 50 and 80 million, with completion in 2009 at the same time as Nordre Avlastningsvei.

Other plans include expanding the tram from Munkvoll to the new Byåsen Secondary School.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trams in Trondheim

• Gråkallbanen AS.
• History of Gråkallbanen (official site).
• Private site on Trondheim Tramway.