2007: The Start of Construction on a Norwegian Railway Tunnel

June 26, 2007

Work began on a railway tunnel in the municipality of Bӕrum, a western suburb of Norway’s capital city of Oslo. A drilling and blasting method was used for creating this tunnel, which is now the major portion of the 4.2-mile (6.7-kilometer) Asker Line. The first dynamite salvo for the project was fired on that inaugural day of construction by Liv Signe Nvarsete, who served as Norway’s minister of transport and communications from 2005 to 2009.   

The first breakthrough between adjacent sections of the Bӕrum Tunnel took place on June 5, 2008; the final breakthrough occurred on July 26 of the following year. Freight trains were first allowed to use the tunnel on August 26, 2011 and, a couple of days later, this newly completed structure was opened to passenger train traffic. The Bӕrum Tunnel was officially dedicated on September 2.

This tunnel covers a total of 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) between the part of Bӕrum known as Marstranderveien and – likewise within that municipality’s boundaries — the vicinity of Engervannet lake.

Photo Credit: Kjetil Ree (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

For more information on the Bӕrum Tunnel, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A6rum_Tunnel