2011 Hallingskeid fire

Historie

Hallingskeid Station is a train station on the Bergensbanen line in the municipality of Ulvik in Hordaland county, Norway. Located at an elevation of 1110m above mean sea level, the station is situated inside a snow tunnel. It opened along with the central section of the line on 10 June 1908 and remained as a staffed station until 1982. It is located on the Hardangervidda plateau in an area without population or road access. The station therefore serves trekkers and mountaineers. Only some of the Norwegian State Railways trains stop at the station.The original station building was designed by Paul Due, who used the same architectural plan for four other mountain stations on the line. The snow tunnel has caught fire five times. The fires in 1948, 1953 and 2008 only caused minor damage to the tunnel itself. The 1960 fire burned-down the tunnel, the station building and most of the station area. The last fire, in 2011, had a Class 73 train caught in the tunnel; both it and the tunnel were damaged beyond repair.HistoryThe station was opened on 10 June 1908, along with the rest of the central portion of the Bergen Line. The station building was of the Mountain Station Variant 1 type, designed by Paul Due. This made it identical to Mjølfjell Station, and with only slight variations to Haugastøl Station, Finse Station and Myrdal Station. During construction, NSB built several buildings for their staff. Two of the houses and an assembly building have been preserved. They were built in 1900 and represent an example of buildings from the construction time. One is partially built in stone, partially in wood, while the other two are entirely in wood. All are now used as cabins. The sick ward for the navvys was bought by Kari Maristuen in 1909 converted to a hotel, named Fjellstova.