The Strømsveien tram fire (''Trikkebrannen i Strømsveien'') was a railway accident resulting from a fire erupting in an

Oslo Tramway The Oslo tram network (, short from ', 'electric') is the tram system in Oslo, Norway. It consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 132,000. It is operated by , a subsidiary of the municipally-owned who maintain the trac ...

car traveling on Strømsveien street in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. On 2 August 1958, a set of two cars, 194 and 198, of the

Gullfisk Class B and Class E, normally referred to as ''Gullfisk'' (Norwegian language, Norwegian for "goldfish"), were a class of 46 trams built by Strømmens Værksted and Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk for Oslo Sporveier and Bærumsbanen of Oslo, Norway, in ...

type was traveling the

Lilleaker Line The Lilleaker Line () is a suburban tramway from Skøyen in Oslo westwards to Jar,_Norway, Jar, Bærum in Norway. It is operated by Line 13 from Ljabru tram stop, Ljabru to Bekkestua (station), Bekkestua of the Oslo Tramway, operated by Oslo Spor ...

('' Lilleakerbanenen'') –

Østensjø Line The Østensjø Line () is a line on the Oslo Metro which runs from Brynseng (station), Brynseng to Mortensrud (station), Mortensrud. It further shares track with the Lambertseter Line along the section from Tøyen (station), Tøyen to Brynseng. ...

(''Østensjøbanen'') route from

Bøler Bøler () is a south-eastern suburb of Oslo, Norway. It is one of the more picturesque areas of Oslo. Østmarka forest and lake Nøklevann are in its immediate vicinity. Infrastructure-wise, it has a shopping cente two elementary schools, a pub ...

Jar A jar is a rigid, cylindrical or slightly conical container, typically made of glass, ceramic, or plastic, with a wide mouth or opening that can be closed with a lid, screw cap, lug cap, cork stopper, roll-on cap, crimp-on cap, press-on ca ...

. This connection was opened in 1937 and the Gullfisk cars introduced in 1939. As the tram braked as it approached Totengata a technical malfunction caused arcing and a fire erupted in the front of car 198 which was the latter car. The exit door, being operated by the tram driver who was seated in the lead car, remained closed for a few, critical seconds as passengers were struck by panic. The disaster claimed the lives of five people; seventeen were injured. Following the disaster, fire extinguishers, better emergency exits and emergency door openers became mandatory in all public transport.

References

59°54'32.7"N 10°47'17.6"E Railway accidents and incidents in Norway Fires in Norway Train and rapid transit fires Railway accidents in 1958 1958 in Norway 1950s fires in Europe 1958 fires Tram accidents August 1958 in Europe {{norway-hist-stub