Lysaker Station

Lysaker
Lysaker in May 2010
Location
Place	Lysaker
Municipality	Bærum
Coordinates	59°54′49″N 10°38′9″E / 59.91361°N 10.63583°E / 59.91361; 10.63583Coordinates: 59°54′49″N 10°38′9″E / 59.91361°N 10.63583°E / 59.91361; 10.63583
Line(s)	Drammen Line
Distance	7.0 km
Elevation	7.5 metres (25 ft)
Service
Opened	7 October 1872
Platforms	4
Owner	Norwegian National Rail Administration
Line operator(s)	Norges Statsbaner Flytoget
Connections
	Ruter—121, 122, 131, 142, 144, 151, 152, 154, 163, 164, 242, 266, 733
	NBDS—Nesoddtangen

Lysaker Station (Norwegian: Lysaker stasjon) is Norway's third-largest railway station, located at Lysaker on the Drammen Line. It serves express, regional, local and Airport Express trains. The station opened in 1872, and is located 7.00 kilometres (4.35 mi) west of Oslo S at 7.5 metres (25 ft) elevation.^[1] In 2007-09 the owner and operator Norwegian National Rail Administration is renovating the station, but there is a controversy whether the station should remain in a curve.

The station is located between Skøyen, to the east, and Stabekk. When the new Asker Line is finished expanded to Lysaker in 2011, the station will be connected directly to Sandvika. All local and regional trains that operate west of Skøyen stop at the station, in addition to the Flytoget airport express trains to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. More than one thousand buses depart from Lysaker Station daily, and within 800 metres (2,600 ft) there are 20,000 jobs with additional 10–15,000 in development.^[2] Lysaker is the closest station to Fornebu, large parts of Eastern Bærum and some of Western Oslo.

Service

Norges Statsbaner (NSB) operates up to ten trains per hour in each direction through Lysaker,^[3] including the Oslo Commuter Rail which has four separate services. Line 400 operates two times hourly, making all stops from Asker and Lillestrøm,^[4] line 440 hourly from Drammen to Dal,^[5] line 450 hourly from Kongsberg to Eidsvoll^[6] and line 550 once or twice hourly from Spikkestad to Moss.^[7] All commuter services except line 400 operate straight west to Sandvika. All express trains on the Bergen Line to Bergen^[8] and the Sørland Line to Kristiansand^[9] stop at Lysaker, as does the hourly regional train from the Vestfold Line and the Dovre Line.^[10]

The Flytoget airport express train services operates three trains per hour to Oslo Airport Station, taking 36 minutes to complete the 57-kilometre (35 mi) route.^[11]

Ruter, the transit authority for Oslo and Akershus, operates more than one thousand buses from Lysaker Station daily;^[2] routes 121, 122, 131, 142, 144, 151, 152, 154, 163, 164, 242, 266 and 733 go via the station. Buses connect the station to Fornebu and suburban areas of Bærum, while other buses make an intermediate stop at Lysaker on-route to Western Bærum and Asker.^[12][13][14] There is also a rush-hour ferry service from Lysaker to Nesoddtangen, operated by Nesodden–Bundefjord Dampskipsselskap^[15]

The station is unstaffed, but ticket machines are available, and the waiting room is open for all departures. There is a kiosk and taxicab stand, and parking is available in a parking house for a fee. The platforms are wheelchair accessible.^[16]

History

An artist's impression of the new Lysaker Station

Lysaker is an original station on the Drammen Line that opened on 7 October 1872.^[17] In 1914 the station building burnt down and was replaced by a new building in 1917, giving the station a center platform.^[17] At the same time the railway was converted from narrow to standard gauge and a new bridge over Lysakerelven was built.^[18] In 1922, the line was rebuilt to double track and electrified from Oslo West Station to Sandvika.^[19] The current station with two platforms and shelter was built in 1987 after the old station building had been demolished. Lysaker served as the closest railway station to Oslo Airport, Fornebu until it closed in 1998;^[18] because of this the station was branded as Lysaker/Fornebu from 27 May 1990 to 7 October 1998, but always retained Lysaker as the sole technical name.^[17]

During World War II, Lysaker Station was hit by five sabotage missions by the Norwegian resistance movement, in which tanks of gasoline, attached or not attached to railroad cars, were blown up. The sabotages took place on 16 December 1944 and 9, 10, 12 and 13 January 1945. On 13 January a tanker truck was attacked as well. There were three additional attacks on Lysaker in 1944 and 1945, two of them against factories and workshops.^[20] Also, the Lysaker Bridge sabotage took place in the immediate vicinity of the station.

Expansion

Construction was well underway in March 2009.

In 2006, the process of renovating the station began, with estimated investments of NOK 1 billion. Lysaker Station is planned to be one of the most important stations west of Oslo, and is to continue as a local connection point for public transport. The construction work consists of renovating the station building and expanding it from two to four platforms.^[2] First, a new double platform north of the current one was built. Then the current platform was dismantled and rebuilt. The construction work is planned to be completed in 2009, with the Asker Line between Lysaker and Sandvika finished two years later. This will provide four tracks from Lysaker to Asker.^[21] The National Rail Administration is planning to extend the Asker Line onwards east to Skøyen sometime after 2015.^[22]

The expansion will allow increased capacity through the "West Corridor" from Oslo to Drammen, by having four tracks instead of two between Lysaker and Asker. Total capacity will increase by eleven additional trains per hour in each direction. Slower commuter trains will continue to use the old line, while faster express trains will be routed on the new line. The project will also increase the number of boarding platforms from two to four.^[23]

Light rail terminus controversy

A proposed light rail system from Fornebu was planned to terminate at the new Lysaker Station,^[2] but the Akershus County Municipality has not been able to decide on what mode of transport to use, with both rapid transit, automated people mover and tramway having been suggested. In 2007, the plans for a people mover were canceled, and replaced with a tram.^[24] Because the people mover was canceled after construction of the station had started, the National Rail Administration has claimed the county for NOK 31 million to cover losses incurred.^[25]

Curve controversy

The present station is located on a curve, and the renovation plans from the National Rail Administration do not involve moving the station or straightening it,^[2] despite protests from both advocates for the disabled community and the railway company NSB. They claim the station will have a gap of up to 40 centimetres (16 in) between the train and the platform, causing accessibility problems for the disabled.^[26] The National Rail Administration claimed that this would not be a major problem since 80 percent of the trains' length would be within 22 centimetres (9 in) of the platform—only 2 centimetres (1 in) further away than if the station had been built on a straight track.^[27]

As a counterargument, NSB has stated that since they are required to have a maximum 25 centimetres (10 in) clearance between the platform and the trains, their trains would no longer stop at the station after its completion. NSB have estimated that to adapt their trains to comply with regulations, the company would be facing a bill of NOK 400–500 million, as well as having to order all-new trains to replace Class 70, costing NOK 1.5 billion, and exceeding the cost of building the new station. Since NSB is state-owned and receives subsidies for rail transport from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the replacement bill would be footed by the taxpayers.^[28]

Designs have also been criticised by both the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate and NSB because it will not be possible for both the conductor and the engineer to have full view of the platform, necessitating doubled staffs for each train passing through the station. Jernbaneverket has attempted to address the problem by installing a video surveillance system.^[29]

The motivation behind the curved station design was the preservation of the 1913 Vollsveien Bridge, which Jernbaneverket claimed would have to be torn down under a straight-track layout. This has since been disputed, and former Minister of Transport and Communication Torild Skogsholm (Liberal) has stated that she blames the problems on the director of the National Rail Administration, Steinar Killi.^[30] Her successor, Liv Signe Navarsete (Centre), announced in July 2006 that the construction would continue following the curved design, though minor functional changes would be made.^[31]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lysaker Station.

• Jernbaneverket entry on Lysaker Station (Norwegian)
• Jernbaneverket entry on the renovation
• Flytoget entry
• NSB entry
• Norsk Jernbaneklubb entry (Norwegian)

v t e Airport Express Train General GMB Class 71 Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Lines Asker Line Drammen Line Gardermoen Line Oslo Tunnel Romerike Tunnel Stations Drammen Asker Sandvika Lysaker Skøyen Nationaltheatret Oslo Central Lillestrøm Oslo Airport Station