Bergen Commuter Rail, sometimes called Vossebanen, is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

service between

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

and Arna,

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...

and

Myrdal Myrdal is an area in Aurland, Norway. Its only built-out facilities is Myrdal Station on the Bergen Line and the Flåm Line The Flåm Line ( no, Flåmsbana) is a long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland Municipality, in Ves ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. It is operated by Vy using Stadler FLIRT

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

s. It runs on the mainline

Bergen Line The Bergen Line or the Bergen Railway ( no, Bergensbanen or nn, Bergensbana), is a long scenic standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Osl ...

and all services terminate at Bergen Station.

Service

Vy operates on half-hour

headway Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system measured in space or time. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise defi ...

s from Bergen to Arna, through the Ulriken Tunnel, the only way under the

Ulriken Ulriken (or the older, ''Ålreken'') is the highest of the Seven Mountains, Bergen, Seven Mountains ( no, De syv fjell) that surround the city of Bergen, Norway. It has a height of above sea level. Ulriken has an aerial tramway, Ulriksbanen, that ...

mountain. There are further 16 departures each way to Voss, of which six stop only at Arna and

Dale Dale or dales may refer to: Locations * Dale (landform), an open valley * Dale (place name element) Geography ;Australia * The Dales (Christmas Island), in the Indian Ocean ;Canada * Dale, Ontario ;Ethiopia * Dale (woreda), district ;Norway * ...

before Voss, not allowing trips Bergen-Arna/Bergen-Dale, while ten stop at all stations, giving three services per direction an hour between Bergen and Arna. Three services continue from Voss to

. The operational deficits are financed by the

Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Transportation (; ) is a Norwegian ministry established in 1946, and is responsible for transportation in Norway. The ministry was responsible for communication infrastructure until may 2019, when the responsibility ...

. Tickets are sold by Vy and

Entur Entur AS is a government-owned transportation company in Norway. Owned by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (Norway), Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications. It was created to offer sales and ticket solutions for the railway ...

. Fares are not integrated with

Skyss Skyss is the public authority that plans, purchases and markets the public transport services governed by the county authority in Vestland, Norway. Skyss does not have a board, but is governed by the county council. Skyss was established in 2007 ...

, the county transit authority, or any of the bus operators in Hordaland.

Station list

Currently, the Bergen-Voss-Myrdal commuter rail service is single-tracked, with double tracking at most stations.

Future expansion

Double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

in the Ulriken Tunnel is currently under construction. This will allow NSB to increase headway to 15 minutes to Arna, and increase services on the Bergensbanen. The tunnel boring machine made the breakthrough in August 2017 with the new tunnel set to open in 2020. The former tunnel will then go through renovation works with the opening date for the completed double track set to 2024.

References

{{Urban rail systems in Norway Norwegian State Railways Commuter rail systems in Norway 1883 establishments in Norway Railway services introduced in 1883