Current Status of Bybanen: The Light Rail Transit Project of Bergen, Norway

Bybane is Norwegian for light rail. Bergen, Norway's City Council decided, in March 2000, that a light rail transit (LRT) system would be the Bergen public transportation system's backbone, and approved a 20 km line from Bergen Airport to the Bergen city center, via Lagunen's major shopping center and the Nesttun suburb. Railway operations will be reestablished through Bergen's new LRT system, in the same corridor as the last line of the tramway system which operated from 1897 to 1965. The author discusses the status of the Bergen LRT project's first phase, the 10 km section currently under construction from the Nesttun suburb's center to the Bergen city center. Funding, infrastructure, rolling stock, technical design, aesthetic design, project schedule, project organization, and challenges are all discussed, as are planned extensions.