170-459: The Flåm Line ( Norwegian : Flåmsbana ) is a 20.2-kilometer (12.6 mi) long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland Municipality , in Vestland county, Norway . A branch line of the Bergen Line , it runs through the valley of Flåmsdalen and connects the mainline with Sognefjord . The line's elevation difference is 866 meters (2,841 ft); it has ten stations, twenty tunnels and one bridge . The maximum gradient
340-463: A Bo'Bo' wheel configuration. The locomotives weighed 48 tonnes (47 long tons; 53 short tons) and the maximum permitted train weight was 85 tonnes (84 long tons; 94 short tons). If the trains were to stop at Kårdal, the weight was further limited to 65 tonnes (64 long tons; 72 short tons). Initially, there were three trains on the Bergen Line in each direction per day, so only a single locomotive
510-528: A dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects , in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages , constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While
680-586: A fast ferry service was introduced in Sogn with direct services to Bergen. In 1991, the Gudvangen Tunnel opened, giving Flåm a road connection to Gudvangen and terminating the ferry service; also the private road built eastbound over the mountain for hydro-power plants was converted to national road (no 50) and improved. NSB was losing money on the line, in part because of very low revenue per rider. The same ticket prices were charged as elsewhere, based on
850-486: A 30 percent discount. Travel time varies between 50 and 59 minutes between the end stations. In 2007, the line was the third-most visited tourist attraction in Norway and carried 547,000 passengers in 2010. Between 1998 and 2015, the service is provided by push–pull trains consisting of an El 17 at each end and with B3 carriages. The locomotives were built by Henschel in 1987, with electrical equipment from NEBB. They have
1020-594: A branch of the Sognefjord, Flåm has 400 residents and is nearly exclusively a tourist area, featuring amongst other things a hotel and a cruise ship port. The station also has a railway museum dedicated to the Flåm Line. Plans to build a railway to connect Norway's two largest cities, Oslo and Bergen , were launched by Andreas Tanberg Gløersen in 1871. He proposed that the line run via Hallingdal and Voss and include two short branch lines which would connect to
1190-424: A critical temperature gradient. Large, angular snow crystals are indicators of weak snow, because such crystals have fewer bonds per unit volume than small, rounded crystals that pack tightly together. Consolidated snow is less likely to slough than loose powdery layers or wet isothermal snow; however, consolidated snow is a necessary condition for the occurrence of slab avalanches , and persistent instabilities within
1360-435: A distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; there is, however, a renewed interest in preserving dialects. Norwegian nouns are inflected for number (singular/plural) and for definiteness (indefinite/definite). In
1530-559: A drag force that was proportional to the square of the speed of its flow: He and others subsequently derived other formulae that take other factors into account, with the Voellmy-Salm-Gubler and the Perla-Cheng-McClung models becoming most widely used as simple tools to model flowing (as opposed to powder snow) avalanches. Since the 1990s many more sophisticated models have been developed. In Europe much of
1700-486: A fee per kilometer; the low speed combined with a lot of free travelers using InterRail tickets gave little revenue. From 1991, the ticket prices were increased as if the line was 20 kilometers (12 mi) longer. In 1992, a new station building was taken into use at Flåm. During the 1990s, X10 commuter trains from Stockholm were borrowed during the summer for extra trains. These trains had larger windows than Class 69, giving better views. A museum and documentation center
1870-548: A few dialects, definite nouns are also inflected for the dative case . Norwegian nouns belong to three noun classes (genders): masculine, feminine and neuter. All feminine nouns can optionally be inflected using masculine noun class morphology in Bokmål due to its Danish heritage. In comparison, the use of all three genders (including the feminine) is mandatory in Nynorsk. All Norwegian dialects have traditionally retained all
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#17327717120142040-463: A fracture at the bottom called the stauchwall. The crown and flank fractures are vertical walls in the snow delineating the snow that was entrained in the avalanche from the snow that remained on the slope. Slabs can vary in thickness from a few centimetres to three metres. Slab avalanches account for around 90% of avalanche-related fatalities. The largest avalanches form turbulent suspension currents known as powder snow avalanches or mixed avalanches,
2210-400: A high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent)—the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis or focus, and corresponds in function to the normal accent in languages that lack lexical tone , such as English. That rise culminates in
2380-450: A kind of gravity current . These consist of a powder cloud, which overlies a dense avalanche. They can form from any type of snow or initiation mechanism, but usually occur with fresh dry powder. They can exceed speeds of 300 km/h (190 mph), and masses of 1,000,000 tons; their flows can travel long distances along flat valley bottoms and even uphill for short distances. In contrast to powder snow avalanches, wet snow avalanches are
2550-607: A long term, lasting from days to years. Experts interpret the recorded data and are able to recognize upcoming ruptures in order to initiate appropriate measures. Such systems (e.g. the monitoring of the Weissmies glacier in Switzerland ) can recognize events several days in advance. Modern radar technology enables the monitoring of large areas and the localization of avalanches at any weather condition, by day and by night. Complex alarm systems are able to detect avalanches within
2720-411: A low velocity suspension of snow and water, with the flow confined to the track surface (McClung, 1999, p. 108). The low speed of travel is due to the friction between the sliding surface of the track and the water saturated flow. Despite the low speed of travel (≈10–40 km/h), wet snow avalanches are capable of generating powerful destructive forces, due to the large mass and density. The body of
2890-501: A noun, unlike English which has a separate article, the , to indicate the same. In general, almost all nouns in Bokmål follow these patterns (like the words in the examples above): In contrast, almost all nouns in Nynorsk follow these patterns (the noun gender system is more pronounced than in Bokmål): There is in general no way to infer what grammatical gender a specific noun has, but there are some patterns of nouns where
3060-400: A number of methods including hand-tossed charges, helicopter-dropped bombs, Gazex concussion lines, and ballistic projectiles launched by air cannons and artillery. Passive preventive systems such as snow fences and light walls can be used to direct the placement of snow. Snow builds up around the fence, especially the side that faces the prevailing winds . Downwind of the fence, snow build-up
3230-413: A persistent weakness in the snowpack. When a slab lying on top of a persistent weakness is loaded by a force greater than the strength of the slab and persistent weak layer, the persistent weak layer can fail and generate an avalanche. Any wind stronger than a light breeze can contribute to a rapid accumulation of snow on sheltered slopes downwind. Wind slabs form quickly and, if present, weaker snow below
3400-400: A point significantly above the freezing point of water, may cause avalanche formation at any time of year. Persistent cold temperatures can either prevent new snow from stabilizing or destabilize the existing snowpack. Cold air temperatures on the snow surface produce a temperature gradient in the snow, because the ground temperature at the base of the snowpack is usually around 0 °C, and
3570-412: A point with only a small amount of snow moving initially; this is typical of wet snow avalanches or avalanches in dry unconsolidated snow. However, if the snow has sintered into a stiff slab overlying a weak layer, then fractures can propagate very rapidly, so that a large volume of snow, possibly thousands of cubic metres, can start moving almost simultaneously. A snowpack will fail when the load exceeds
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#17327717120143740-575: A power output of 3,000 kilowatts (4,000 hp) and a Bo'Bo' wheel arrangement. Starting in 2014, El 18 replaced the El 17. Norwegian language Norwegian ( endonym : norsk [ˈnɔʂːk] ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway , where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish , Norwegian forms
3910-551: A preliminary report in 1911, which recommended an adhesion railway, although he also felt the need for a detailed study of a rack railway. His final report was finished in 1913, and although it recommended adhesion, it pointed out that the line's capacity would be smaller than predicted and that costs would be three times as high—NOK 5.5 million. The plans were approved by the Ministry of Labour and NSB's main board in 1915. The plans were approved by Parliament in 1916. However,
4080-592: A short time in order to close (e.g. roads and rails) or evacuate (e.g. construction sites) endangered areas. An example of such a system is installed on the only access road of Zermatt in Switzerland. Two radars monitor the slope of a mountain above the road. The system automatically closes the road by activating several barriers and traffic lights within seconds such that no people are harmed. Avalanche accidents are broadly differentiated into 2 categories: accidents in recreational settings, and accidents in residential, industrial, and transportation settings. This distinction
4250-421: A single language, to be called Samnorsk . A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at the time. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against Samnorsk in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk
4420-428: A single vote. The name Nynorsk , the linguistic term for modern Norwegian , was chosen to contrast with Danish and emphasise the historical connection to Old Norwegian. Today, this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål. Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into
4590-417: A start zone where the avalanche originates, a track along which the avalanche flows, and a runout zone where the avalanche comes to rest. The debris deposit is the accumulated mass of the avalanched snow once it has come to rest in the run-out zone. For the image at left, many small avalanches form in this avalanche path every year, but most of these avalanches do not run the full vertical or horizontal length of
4760-415: A storm. Daytime exposure to sunlight will rapidly destabilize the upper layers of the snowpack if the sunlight is strong enough to melt the snow, thereby reducing its hardness. During clear nights, the snowpack can re-freeze when ambient air temperatures fall below freezing, through the process of long-wave radiative cooling, or both. Radiative heat loss occurs when the night air is significantly cooler than
4930-412: A sufficient quantity of airborne snow, this portion of the avalanche can become separated from the bulk of the avalanche and travel a greater distance as a powder snow avalanche. Scientific studies using radar , following the 1999 Galtür avalanche disaster , confirmed the hypothesis that a saltation layer forms between the surface and the airborne components of an avalanche, which can also separate from
5100-727: A three-month period throughout the Alps in Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. This series of avalanches killed around 265 people and was termed the Winter of Terror . A mountain climbing camp on Lenin Peak, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, was wiped out in 1990 when an earthquake triggered a large avalanche that overran the camp. Forty-three climbers were killed. In 1993, the Bayburt Üzengili avalanche killed 60 individuals in Üzengili in
5270-413: A variety of factors such as the snow's shear strength (which is itself dependent upon crystal form) and the configuration of layers and inter-layer interfaces. The snowpack on slopes with sunny exposures is strongly influenced by sunshine . Diurnal cycles of thawing and refreezing can stabilize the snowpack by promoting settlement. Strong freeze-thaw cycles result in the formation of surface crusts during
Flåm Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
5440-551: A waiting room, as well as a room for cargo at Vatnahalsen, Håreina and Dalsbotn. Laying of tracks started in 1936, and was assisted by two steam locomotives. The work started at Myrdal and reached Reinunga the first year, Kjosfossen Tunnel the second year and the Blomheller Tunnel in 1939. The first train to operate on a regular schedule was in October 1939, when a freight train between Myrdal and Berekvam ran three times
5610-528: A week. However, this service was stopped by the end of the month. With the German occupation of Norway in 1940, work started later in the season, but the German authorities wanted to speed up the work to make the line usable for steam trains that same year. They scheduled the line for completion in 1942. Track laying work was accelerated by increasing the number of workers from 58 to 195. Regular freight operation on
5780-484: Is 5.5 percent (1:18). Because of its steep gradient and picturesque nature, the Flåm Line is now almost exclusively a tourist service and has become the third-most visited tourist attraction in Norway. Construction of the line started in 1924, with the line opening in 1940. It allowed the district of Sogn access to Bergen and Oslo via the Bergen Line. Electric traction was taken into use in 1944; at first El 9 locomotives were used, and from 1982 El 11 . Until 1991,
5950-413: Is Bokmål will study Nynorsk as a mandatory subject throughout both elementary and high school. A 2005 poll indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5.5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing
6120-411: Is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The now-abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål and is far closer to Danish while
6290-403: Is a rigid fence-like structure ( snow fence ) and may be constructed of steel , wood or pre-stressed concrete . They usually have gaps between the beams and are built perpendicular to the slope, with reinforcing beams on the downhill side. Rigid barriers are often considered unsightly, especially when many rows must be built. They are also expensive and vulnerable to damage from falling rocks in
6460-579: Is called the Starting Point and typically occurs on a 30–45 degree slope. The body of the pathway is called the Track of the avalanche and usually occurs on a 20–30 degree slope. When the avalanche loses its momentum and eventually stops it reaches the Runout Zone. This usually occurs when the slope has reached a steepness that is less than 20 degrees. These degrees are not consistently true due to
6630-424: Is critically sensitive to small variations within the narrow range of meteorological conditions that allow for the accumulation of snow into a snowpack. Among the critical factors controlling snowpack evolution are: heating by the sun, radiational cooling , vertical temperature gradients in standing snow, snowfall amounts, and snow types. Generally, mild winter weather will promote the settlement and stabilization of
6800-628: Is equipped with Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R), but lacks centralized traffic control (CTC). The infrastructure is owned and operated by the Norwegian National Rail Administration. At Myrdal Station, the Flåm Line runs in the same direction as the trains towards Oslo, but immediately starts running downwards into the Flåmsdalen valley. The first part of the line runs through snow shelters and several short tunnels. Vatnahalsen Station
6970-408: Is flat enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. The snowpack is composed of ground-parallel layers that accumulate over the winter. Each layer contains ice grains that are representative of the distinct meteorological conditions during which the snow formed and was deposited. Once deposited, a snow layer continues to evolve under
Flåm Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
7140-408: Is followed by Kjosfossen Station , 4.40 kilometers (2.73 mi) from Myrdal and 670 meters (2,200 ft) AMSL, which serves no other purpose than allowing tourists to look at the waterfall Kjosfossen . The line then runs through the 1,341.5-meter-long (4,401 ft) Nåli Tunnel, the longest on the line. At the end of the tunnel lies Kårdal Station , traditionally serving the farm furthest up in
7310-470: Is lessened. This is caused by the loss of snow at the fence that would have been deposited and the pickup of the snow that is already there by the wind, which was depleted of snow at the fence. When there is a sufficient density of trees , they can greatly reduce the strength of avalanches. They hold snow in place and when there is an avalanche, the impact of the snow against the trees slows it down. Trees can either be planted or they can be conserved, such as in
7480-414: Is located 1.13 kilometers (0.70 mi) from Myrdal, at 811 meters (2,661 ft) AMSL. The line then runs through a horseshoe curve and the 880-meter-long (2,890 ft) Vatnahalsen Tunnel. It exits the tunnel onto an artificial shelf on a cliff which falls several hundred meters down. Reinunga Station is located 2.20 kilometers (1.37 mi) from Myrdal and at 767 meters (2,516 ft) elevation. It
7650-442: Is located, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site . The line is solely served by a tourist-oriented service operated by Vy on behalf of Flåm Utvikling. From May through September, there are nine or ten departures in each direction per day. In the rest of the year, there are four. Fares do not follow the normal fares for Vy and are considerably higher than on other train routes. InterRail tickets are not valid for free travel, but give
7820-504: Is motivated by the observed difference in the causes of avalanche accidents in the two settings. In the recreational setting most accidents are caused by the people involved in the avalanche. In a 1996 study, Jamieson et al. (pages 7–20) found that 83% of all avalanches in the recreational setting were caused by those who were involved in the accident . In contrast, all the accidents in the residential, industrial, and transportation settings were due to spontaneous natural avalanches. Because of
7990-425: Is one of the line's main attractions. After Håreina Station , located 17.21 kilometers (10.69 mi) from Myrdal at 48 meters (157 ft) elevation, the valley widens and changes character, becoming flatter and with more vegetation. After passing Lunden Station , 18.60 kilometers (11.56 mi) from Myrdal and at 16 meters (52 ft) elevation, the line reaches the terminus at Flåm. Located on Aurlandsfjord ,
8160-556: Is regulated by the Norwegian Academy , which determines acceptable spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. There is also an unofficial form of Nynorsk, called Høgnorsk , discarding the post-1917 reforms, and thus close to Ivar Aasen's original Landsmål. It is supported by Ivar Aasen-sambandet , but has found no widespread use. In 2010, 86.5% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary schools in Norway receive education in Bokmål, while 13.0% receive education in Nynorsk. From
8330-402: Is sufficiently unsettled and cold enough for precipitated snow to accumulate into a seasonal snowpack. Continentality , through its potentiating influence on the meteorological extremes experienced by snowpacks, is an important factor in the evolution of instabilities, and consequential occurrence of avalanches faster stabilization of the snowpack after storm cycles. The evolution of the snowpack
8500-459: Is to write in dialect for informal use. When writing an SMS, Facebook update, or fridge note, many people, especially young ones, write approximations of the way they talk rather than using Bokmål or Nynorsk. There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of different Norwegian dialects. Variations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create
8670-587: Is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy , which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is Høgnorsk ('High Norwegian'), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, but not for how to speak
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#17327717120148840-405: Is uvular [ ʁ ] or [ χ ] . And in the dialects of North-Western Norway, it is realized as [ r ] , much like the trilled ⟨rr⟩ of Spanish. Norwegian is a pitch-accent language with two distinct pitch patterns, like Swedish. They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciation. For example, in many East Norwegian dialects,
9010-496: Is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are Setesdal , the western part of Telemark county ( fylke ) and several municipalities in Hallingdal , Valdres , and Gudbrandsdalen . It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in many rural parts of Trøndelag (mid-Norway) and
9180-466: The Dano-Norwegian language that replaced Middle Norwegian as the elite language after the union of Denmark–Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries and then evolved in Norway, while Nynorsk was developed based upon a collective of spoken Norwegian dialects. Norwegian is one of the two official languages in Norway, along with Sámi , a Finno-Ugric language spoken by less than one percent of
9350-587: The Germanic languages evolved, further branching off into the North Germanic languages , of which Norwegian is one. Proto-Norse is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic during the first centuries AD in what is today Southern Sweden. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and the language attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions,
9520-638: The Hanseatic League between 1250 and 1450 in the main Scandinavian cities brought large Middle Low German –speaking populations to Norway. The influence of their language on Scandinavian is comparable with that of French on English after the Norman conquest . In the late Middle Ages, dialects began to develop in Scandinavia because the population was rural and little travel occurred. When
9690-715: The Norwegian Public Roads Administration . Among the strongest opponents to the bus alternative was Ingolf Elster Christensen , County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane and later parliamentarian, who stated that the Nordre Bergenhus County (today Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality ) had paid part of the regional financing of the Bergen Line on condition that they receive a branch line to the Sognefjord. The 1920s saw high inflation and large public deficits. Several public committees were created solely to cut costs. One such proposal
9860-564: The Reformation came from Germany, Martin Luther 's High German translation of the Bible was quickly translated into Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. Norway entered a union with Denmark in 1397 and Danish, over time, replaced Middle Norwegian as the language of the elite, the church, literature, and the law. When the union with Denmark ended in 1814, the Dano-Norwegian koiné had become
10030-694: The Rogers Pass avalanche in British Columbia , Canada. During World War I , an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers died as a result of avalanches during the mountain campaign in the Alps at the Austrian-Italian front, many of which were caused by artillery fire. Some 10,000 men, from both sides, died in avalanches in December 1916. In the northern hemisphere winter of 1950–1951 approximately 649 avalanches were recorded in
10200-545: The Vy as a subcontractor for Flåm Utvikling, while the line itself is owned and operated by the Bane NOR . The Flåm Line runs from Myrdal on the Bergen Line to Flåm . Myrdal Station is located in a mountain pass at 863.6 meters (2,833 ft) above mean sea level (AMSL), while Flåm Station is located at 2.0 meters (6 ft 7 in) AMSL. The line's maximum gradient is 5.5 percent, and 16.1 kilometers (10.0 mi) of
10370-502: The angle of repose , depends on a variety of factors, such as crystal form and moisture content. Some forms of drier and colder snow will only stick to shallower slopes, while wet and warm snow can bond to very steep surfaces. In coastal mountains, such as the Cordillera del Paine region of Patagonia , deep snowpacks collect on vertical and even overhanging rock faces. The slope angle that can allow moving snow to accelerate depends on
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#173277171201410540-496: The avalanche dam on Mount Stephen in Kicking Horse Pass , have been constructed to protect people and property by redirecting the flow of avalanches. Deep debris deposits from avalanches will collect in catchments at the terminus of a run out, such as gullies and river beds. Slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a lower incidence of avalanches. Human-triggered avalanches have
10710-475: The 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are comparable to American and British English differences . Riksmål
10880-402: The Bergen Line in 1898, the upper part of Kjosfossen had been built up with a hydroelectric power station. Another power station was built there, and taken into use on 27 October 1944. Built by Kværner and Norsk Elektrisk & Brown Boveri (NEBB), it had a power output of 1,700 kilowatts (2,300 hp). The costs for the project ended at NOK 26,651,900, of which NOK 22.0 million
11050-517: The Flåm Line started on 1 August 1940, albeit limited to an axle load of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons). At the time there were four trains each day, two in each direction. Passenger trains started running on 10 February 1941, also with two trains in each direction per day. Travel time was 65 minutes downhill and 80 minutes uphill. The official name of the line was decided by the ministry on 26 June 1941. From 1 May 1942, Rolf Aksnes took over as head engineer after Kielland. During construction of
11220-489: The Flåm Line was rebuilt to allow an axle load of 18 tonnes (18 long tons; 20 short tons). El 11 was chosen as El 9's replacement in the mid-1970s, but it was not until November 1980 that El 11.2098 started being rebuilt for its new service. Upgrades included rheostatic brakes and electromagnetic brakes , new speed measurement and curve lights. The locomotive was taken into use on the Flåm Line in June 1982. A year later, El 11.2092
11390-509: The Khumbu Icefall), triggering a movement of broken ice chunks. The resulting movement is more analogous to a rockfall or a landslide than a snow avalanche. They are typically very difficult to predict and almost impossible to mitigate. As an avalanche moves down a slope it follows a certain pathway that is dependent on the slope's degree of steepness and the volume of snow/ice involved in the mass movement . The origin of an avalanche
11560-512: The Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy throughout the years. Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called moderate or conservative , depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses
11730-517: The SAMOS-AT avalanche simulation software and the RAMMS software. Preventative measures are employed in areas where avalanches pose a significant threat to people, such as ski resorts , mountain towns, roads, and railways. There are several ways to prevent avalanches and lessen their power and develop preventative measures to reduce the likelihood and size of avalanches by disrupting the structure of
11900-474: The United States. In 2001 it was reported that globally an average of 150 people die each year from avalanches. Three of the deadliest recorded avalanches have killed over a thousand people each. Doug Fesler and Jill Fredston developed a conceptual model of the three primary elements of avalanches: terrain, weather, and snowpack. Terrain describes the places where avalanches occur, weather describes
12070-408: The ambient air temperature can be much colder. When a temperature gradient greater than 10 °C change per vertical meter of snow is sustained for more than a day, angular crystals called depth hoar or facets begin forming in the snowpack because of rapid moisture transport along the temperature gradient. These angular crystals, which bond poorly to one another and the surrounding snow, often become
12240-449: The area, but it was too steep and narrow for heavy vehicles. The Hardanger Line , which connected the Bergen Line to Hardangerfjord, opened in 1935, and was the county's first railway to open with electric traction. The first engineering surveys for the Flåm Line were performed in 1893. It resulted in a proposal for a 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) narrow gauge railway which would be 18.0 kilometers (11.2 mi) long. Most of
12410-426: The avalanche's path to slow it down. Finally, along transportation corridors, large shelters, called snow sheds , can be built directly in the slide path of an avalanche to protect traffic from avalanches. Warning systems can detect avalanches which develop slowly, such as ice avalanches caused by icefalls from glaciers. Interferometric radars, high-resolution cameras, or motion sensors can monitor instable areas over
12580-401: The building of a ski resort, to reduce the strength of avalanches. In turn, socio-environmental changes can influence the occurrence of damaging avalanches: some studies linking changes in land-use/land-cover patterns and the evolution of snow avalanche damage in mid latitude mountains show the importance of the role played by vegetation cover, that is at the root of the increase of damage when
12750-432: The bulk of the avalanche. Driving an avalanche is the component of the avalanche's weight parallel to the slope; as the avalanche progresses any unstable snow in its path will tend to become incorporated, so increasing the overall weight. This force will increase as the steepness of the slope increases, and diminish as the slope flattens. Resisting this are a number of components that are thought to interact with each other:
12920-435: The capability to capture and move ice, rocks, and trees. Avalanches occur in two general forms, or combinations thereof: slab avalanches made of tightly packed snow, triggered by a collapse of an underlying weak snow layer, and loose snow avalanches made of looser snow. After being set off, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they capture more snow. If an avalanche moves fast enough, some of
13090-473: The class were painted in a new green livery and branded as Flåmsbana rather than NSB. Older B3 carriages were renovated, given new panorama windows and painted in the same color scheme and taken into use on the line. In October 2000, NSB sold its shares in Flåm Utvikling to Aurland Ressursutvikling. The line received GSM-R from 1 May 2005. The same year, Nærøyfjord , the neighboring fjord to where Flåm
13260-519: The company saw it as unrealistic to invest so much in a marginal branch line. NSB had also concluded its away-with-the-steam program, and therefore had a lack of locomotives in general. If a new class of locomotives was to be built, it would have to satisfy more than the requirements for the Flåm Line, so NSB instead started investigating whether any of the older models could be used. Tests were performed in 1971 and 1973 with El 11 , built between 1951 and 1964, and El 13 , built between 1957 and 1966. Neither
13430-514: The construction, although this quickly increased to 220. The numbers fluctuated between that and as low as 80, although hit an all-time high of 280 people in 1937. To house the employees, eight barracks were built. Among the first things built were housing and station buildings, which could then be used by people working on the construction. The local economy was stimulated by farmers being paid for transport. Using horses, they would transport tourists by day and building materials by night. The competition
13600-516: The decision concerning technical specifications was not taken by Parliament until 1923, when it decided that the line was to be electric. The line was then estimated to cost NOK 14.5 million—the increase caused by inflation during the First World War—;of which NOK 1.2 million was to be paid by the local governments. The line was to have tracks which weighed 25 kilograms per meter (50 lb/yd). The curve radius
13770-409: The depths, crystal forms, and layering of the seasonal snowpack. Slab avalanches are formed frequently in snow that has been deposited, or redeposited by wind. They have the characteristic appearance of a block (slab) of snow cut out from its surroundings by fractures. Elements of slab avalanches include a crown fracture at the top of the start zone, flank fractures on the sides of the start zones, and
13940-399: The dialects and comparing the dialects among the different regions. He examined the development of Icelandic , which had largely escaped the influences under which Norwegian had come. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, Landsmål , meaning 'national language'. The name Landsmål is sometimes interpreted as 'rural language' or 'country language', but this
14110-596: The dialects. The retroflex consonants only appear in East Norwegian dialects as a result of sandhi , combining / ɾ / with / d / , / l / , / n / , / s / , and / t / . The realization of the rhotic / ɾ / depends on the dialect. In Eastern, Central, and Northern Norwegian dialects, it is a flap [ ɾ ] , whereas in Western and Southern Norway, and for some speakers also in Eastern Norway, it
14280-693: The difference in the causes of avalanche accidents, and the activities pursued in the two settings, avalanche and disaster management professionals have developed two related preparedness, rescue, and recovery strategies for each of the settings. Two avalanches occurred in March 1910 in the Cascade and Selkirk Mountain ranges; on 1 March the Wellington avalanche killed 96 in Washington state , United States. Three days later 62 railroad workers were killed in
14450-532: The early 20th century, notably the work of Professor Lagotala in preparation for the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix . His method was developed by A. Voellmy and popularised following the publication in 1955 of his Ueber die Zerstoerungskraft von Lawinen (On the Destructive Force of Avalanches). Voellmy used a simple empirical formula, treating an avalanche as a sliding block of snow moving with
14620-644: The eighth grade onwards, pupils are required to learn both. Out of the 431 municipalities in Norway, 161 have declared that they wish to communicate with the central authorities in Bokmål, 116 (representing 12% of the population) in Nynorsk, while 156 are neutral. Of 4,549 state publications in 2000, 8% were in Nynorsk, and 92% in Bokmål. The large national newspapers ( Aftenposten , Dagbladet , and VG ) are published in Bokmål or Riksmål. Some major regional newspapers (including Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad ), many political journals, and many local newspapers use both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A newer trend
14790-534: The fact that each avalanche is unique depending on the stability of the snowpack that it was derived from as well as the environmental or human influences that triggered the mass movement. People caught in avalanches can die from suffocation , trauma, or hypothermia . From "1950–1951 to 2020–2021" there were 1,169 people who died in avalanches in the United States. For the 11-year period ending April 2006, 445 people died in avalanches throughout North America. On average, 28 people die in avalanches every winter in
14960-403: The final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall common in most languages is either very small or absent. There are significant variations in pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects) accent 1 is falling, while accent 2 is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around
15130-452: The flow of a wet snow avalanche can plough through soft snow, and can scour boulders, earth, trees, and other vegetation; leaving exposed and often scored ground in the avalanche track. Wet snow avalanches can be initiated from either loose snow releases, or slab releases, and only occur in snowpacks that are water saturated and isothermally equilibrated to the melting point of water. The isothermal characteristic of wet snow avalanches has led to
15300-402: The following year. In 1971 and 1972, it saw a 20-percent increase—the latter representing the first year with InterRail tickets. By then the annual ridership had reached 175,000. In 1970, an additional train was stationed at Flåm, which made it possible to travel a round trip between Flåm and Bergen in a day. Between 1975 and 1982, NSB started running direct trains between Ål and Flåm. In 1978,
15470-501: The forms that are close to Nynorsk is called radical . Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål. Opponents of the spelling reforms aimed at bringing Bokmål closer to Nynorsk have retained the name Riksmål and employ spelling and grammar that predate the Samnorsk movement. Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of
15640-460: The friction between the avalanche and the surface beneath; friction between the air and snow within the fluid; fluid-dynamic drag at the leading edge of the avalanche; shear resistance between the avalanche and the air through which it is passing, and shear resistance between the fragments within the avalanche itself. An avalanche will continue to accelerate until the resistance exceeds the forward force. Attempts to model avalanche behaviour date from
15810-634: The gender can be inferred. For instance, all nouns ending in - nad will be masculine in both Bokmål and Nynorsk (for instance the noun jobbsøknad , which means 'job application'). Most nouns ending in - ing will be feminine, like the noun forventning ('expectation'). Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope , such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, other animals, and earthquakes . Primarily composed of flowing snow and air, large avalanches have
15980-470: The greatest incidence when the snow's angle of repose is between 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which human-triggered avalanches are most frequent, is 38 degrees. When the incidence of human triggered avalanches is normalized by the rates of recreational use, however, hazard increases uniformly with slope angle, and no significant difference in hazard for a given exposure direction can be found. The rule of thumb is: A slope that
16150-866: The ground surface beneath the snowpack influences the stability of the snowpack, either being a source of strength or weakness. Avalanches are unlikely to form in very thick forests, but boulders and sparsely distributed vegetation can create weak areas deep within the snowpack through the formation of strong temperature gradients. Full-depth avalanches (avalanches that sweep a slope virtually clean of snow cover) are more common on slopes with smooth ground, such as grass or rock slabs. Generally speaking, avalanches follow drainages down-slope, frequently sharing drainage features with summertime watersheds. At and below tree line , avalanche paths through drainages are well defined by vegetation boundaries called trim lines , which occur where avalanches have removed trees and prevented regrowth of large vegetation. Engineered drainages, such as
16320-508: The influence of the meteorological conditions that prevail after deposition. For an avalanche to occur, it is necessary that a snowpack have a weak layer (or instability) below a slab of cohesive snow. In practice the formal mechanical and structural factors related to snowpack instability are not directly observable outside of laboratories, thus the more easily observed properties of the snow layers (e.g. penetration resistance, grain size, grain type, temperature) are used as index measurements of
16490-555: The language. No standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or not, is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian. However, in areas where East Norwegian dialects are used, a tendency exists to accept a de facto spoken standard for this particular regional dialect, Urban East Norwegian or Standard East Norwegian (Norwegian: Standard østnorsk ), in which
16660-413: The likelihood of an avalanche. Observation and experience has shown that newly fallen snow requires time to bond with the snow layers beneath it, especially if the new snow falls during very cold and dry conditions. If ambient air temperatures are cold enough, shallow snow above or around boulders, plants, and other discontinuities in the slope, weakens from rapid crystal growth that occurs in the presence of
16830-401: The line was moved further away from the mountain side. Other slides during construction included an avalanche near Store Reppa on 10 February 1925, which deposited up to 3.5 meters (11 ft) of earth. In April 1925, a 1,000 cubic meters (35,000 cu ft) landslide took place above Berekvam. On 8 February 1928, an avalanche did some damage to the right-of-way near Nåli. The tunnels were
17000-523: The line's 20.20 kilometers (12.55 mi) have at least 2.8 percent gradient. The line has standard gauge and a minimum curve radius of 130 meters (430 ft), and is the steepest standard-gauge railway in Europe. Maximum permitted speed upwards is 40 km/h (25 mph), while it is 30 km/h (19 mph) downhill. The line has eight stops, twenty tunnels and one bridge. The line is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC using overhead wire , and
17170-450: The local humidity, water vapour flux, temperature and heat flux. The top of the snowpack is also extensively influenced by incoming radiation and the local air flow. One of the aims of avalanche research is to develop and validate computer models that can describe the evolution of the seasonal snowpack over time. A complicating factor is the complex interaction of terrain and weather, which causes significant spatial and temporal variability of
17340-629: The local population. Around 1030, Christianity came to Scandinavia , bringing with it an influx of Latin borrowings and the Roman alphabet . These new words were related to church practices and ceremonies, although many other loanwords related to general culture also entered the language. The Scandinavian languages at this time are not considered to be separate languages, although there were minor differences among what are customarily called Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian , Old Gutnish , Old Danish, and Old Swedish . The economic and political dominance of
17510-526: The mechanical properties of the snow (e.g. tensile strength , friction coefficients, shear strength , and ductile strength ). This results in two principal sources of uncertainty in determining snowpack stability based on snow structure: First, both the factors influencing snow stability and the specific characteristics of the snowpack vary widely within small areas and time scales, resulting in significant difficulty extrapolating point observations of snow layers across different scales of space and time. Second,
17680-421: The meteorological conditions that create the snowpack, and snowpack describes the structural characteristics of snow that make avalanche formation possible. Avalanche formation requires a slope shallow enough for snow to accumulate but steep enough for the snow to accelerate once set in motion by the combination of mechanical failure (of the snowpack) and gravity. The angle of the slope that can hold snow, called
17850-464: The morning express trains on the Bergen Line started stopping at Myrdal, allowing better access for tourists to the Flåm Line. Traffic increased further until 1980, when it hit 200,000, and then remained stable through the decade. When the line opened, it received a lot of freight traffic for the construction of a power station in Årdal . From the opening, the Flåm Line was the fastest means of transport between Sogn and both Oslo and Bergen, and most post
18020-458: The most difficult and time-consuming part of construction. Of the twenty tunnels, machines were only used for the Nåli and Vatnahalsen Tunnels—the rest were built by hand. Hand-construction was done by drilling up to 4.2 meters (14 ft) through the rock, filling the holes with dynamite and blasting. Construction of tunnels started in 1924 and the first tunnel was completed in 1926; the last tunnel
18190-486: The mother tongue of around 1% of the population. From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianised Danish by incorporating words that were descriptive of Norwegian scenery and folk life, and adopting a more Norwegian syntax. Knud Knudsen proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with the Dano-Norwegian koiné , known as "cultivated everyday speech." A small adjustment in this direction
18360-414: The new snow has insufficient time to bond to underlying snow layers. Rain has a similar effect. In the short term, rain causes instability because, like a heavy snowfall, it imposes an additional load on the snowpack and once rainwater seeps down through the snow, acts as a lubricant, reducing the natural friction between snow layers that holds the snowpack together. Most avalanches happen during or soon after
18530-427: The night and of unstable surface snow during the day. Slopes in the lee of a ridge or of another wind obstacle accumulate more snow and are more likely to include pockets of deep snow, wind slabs , and cornices , all of which, when disturbed, may result in avalanche formation. Conversely, the snowpack on a windward slope is often much shallower than on a lee slope. Avalanches and avalanche paths share common elements:
18700-417: The oldest form of the runic alphabets . A number of inscriptions are memorials to the dead, while others are magical in content. The oldest are carved on loose objects, while later ones are chiseled in runestones . They are the oldest written record of any Germanic language. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Around 800 AD,
18870-526: The other alternatives were discarded, consensus gradually grew for the Flåm alternative, and the Railway Committee for Nordre Bergenhus County recommended this proposal. New plans from NSB criticized the mix of rack and adhesion railway, and instead proposed a conventional adhesion line all the way. Engineer Ferdinand Bjerke traveled to Continental Europe to study several combined railways. He published
19040-407: The path. The frequency with which avalanches form in a given area is known as the return period . The start zone of an avalanche must be steep enough to allow snow to accelerate once set in motion, additionally convex slopes are less stable than concave slopes because of the disparity between the tensile strength of snow layers and their compressive strength . The composition and structure of
19210-757: The population. Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries who speak Norwegian have the opportunity to use it when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any interpretation or translation costs. Like most of the languages in Europe, Norwegian derives from Proto-Indo-European . As early Indo-Europeans spread across Europe, they became isolated from each other and new languages developed. In northwest Europe,
19380-414: The prevention of development in these areas. To mitigate the effect of avalanches the construction of artificial barriers can be very effective in reducing avalanche damage. There are several types: One kind of barrier ( snow net ) uses a net strung between poles that are anchored by guy wires in addition to their foundations. These barriers are similar to those used for rockslides . Another type of barrier
19550-442: The principles of Norwegian orthography, e.g. zebra in Norwegian is written sebra . Due to historical reasons, some otherwise Norwegian family names are also written using these letters. Some letters may be modified by diacritics : é , è , ê , ó , ò , and ô . In Nynorsk, ì and ù and ỳ are occasionally seen as well. The diacritics are not compulsory, but may in a few cases distinguish between different meanings of
19720-550: The protective forest is deforested (because of demographic growth, intensive grazing and industrial or legal causes), and at the root of the decrease of damage because of the transformation of a traditional land-management system based on overexploitation into a system based on land marginalization and reforestation, something that has happened mainly since the mid-20th century in mountain environments of developed countries. In many areas, regular avalanche tracks can be identified and precautions can be taken to minimize damage, such as
19890-420: The railway crosses the river again, this time by the river running in a tunnel under the tracks. The next station is Dalsbotn Station , located 13.90 kilometers (8.64 mi) from Myrdal and at 199 meters (653 ft) AMSL. Just before reaching the last tunnel, the 424-meter (1,391 ft) long Furuberget Tunnel, the line passes by the waterfall Rjoandefossen , which with a 140-meter (460 ft) vertical drop
20060-441: The railway would be built as an adhesion railway with a 2.5 percent gradient, although part of it would be a rack railway with a gradient of 10.0 percent. It was at the time estimated to cost 3.3 million Norwegian krone (NOK). In 1904, a radically different route to Sognefjord was proposed: a 47.13-kilometer (29.29 mi) long adhesion line from Voss to Gudvangen via Stalheim . It was estimated to cost NOK 3.5 million, but
20230-488: The railway. Part of the political support was because there was agreement on a national railway plan, and removing parts of it would disrupt the geographical compromise. However, Parliament did vote to reduce the number of intermediate stations to one, which would allow trains to meet at Berekvam. The cost saving for a road was estimated at 30 percent. The issue of a road was taken up in a new vote in Parliament in 1927, but
20400-804: The recent work was carried out as part of the SATSIE (Avalanche Studies and Model Validation in Europe) research project supported by the European Commission which produced the leading-edge MN2L model, now in use with the Service Restauration des Terrains en Montagne (Mountain Rescue Service) in France, and D2FRAM (Dynamical Two-Flow-Regime Avalanche Model), which was still undergoing validation as of 2007. Other known models are
20570-409: The relationship between readily observable snowpack characteristics and the snowpack's critical mechanical properties has not been completely developed. While the deterministic relationship between snowpack characteristics and snowpack stability is still a matter of ongoing scientific study, there is a growing empirical understanding of the snow composition and deposition characteristics that influence
20740-526: The responsibility for infrastructure, retained ownership of the line itself. Flåm Utvikling also started building a cruise ship terminal at Flåm, so tourists could walk ashore and directly to the trains. With the change of ownership, NSB also decided to replace the aging El 11 with El 17 . The locomotives had been delivered in 1987 and were intended for express train service, but had been plagued with technical problems and were not considered reliable enough to operate as single locomotives. The six newest trains of
20910-479: The river Flåmselvi and runs through a series of short tunnels. At 10.51 kilometers (6.53 mi) from Myrdal, the line reaches Berekvam Station , located at 344 meters (1,129 ft) AMSL. It is the only station to have a passing loop and thus the only location on the line where trains can meet. Because the station is unmanned and lacks CTC, crossing must be performed using flags at day and torches at night, set by personnel who travel from Myrdal or Flåm. At Høga,
21080-750: The script was simplified to the Younger Futhark , and inscriptions became more abundant. At the same time, the beginning of the Viking Age led to the spread of Old Norse to Iceland , Greenland , and the Faroe Islands . Viking colonies also existed in parts of the British Isles , France ( Normandy ), North America, and Kievan Rus . In all of these places except Iceland and the Faroes, Old Norse speakers went extinct or were absorbed into
21250-458: The secondary term of isothermal slides found in the literature (for example in Daffern, 1999, p. 93). At temperate latitudes wet snow avalanches are frequently associated with climatic avalanche cycles at the end of the winter season, when there is significant daytime warming. An ice avalanche occurs when a large piece of ice, such as from a serac or calving glacier, falls onto ice (such as
21420-416: The slab may not have time to adjust to the new load. Even on a clear day, wind can quickly load a slope with snow by blowing snow from one place to another. Top-loading occurs when wind deposits snow from the top of a slope; cross-loading occurs when wind deposits snow parallel to the slope. When a wind blows over the top of a mountain, the leeward, or downwind, side of the mountain experiences top-loading, from
21590-415: The snow may mix with the air, forming a powder snow avalanche . Though they appear to share similarities, avalanches are distinct from slush flows , mudslides , rock slides , and serac collapses. They are also different from large scale movements of ice . Avalanches can happen in any mountain range that has an enduring snowpack. They are most frequent in winter or spring, but may occur at any time of
21760-429: The snowpack can hide below well-consolidated surface layers. Uncertainty associated with the empirical understanding of the factors influencing snow stability leads most professional avalanche workers to recommend conservative use of avalanche terrain relative to current snowpack instability. Avalanches only occur in a standing snowpack. Typically winter seasons at high latitudes, high altitudes, or both have weather that
21930-423: The snowpack, and the heat stored in the snow is re-radiated into the atmosphere. When a slab avalanche forms, the slab disintegrates into increasingly smaller fragments as the snow travels downhill. If the fragments become small enough the outer layer of the avalanche, called a saltation layer, takes on the characteristics of a fluid . When sufficiently fine particles are present they can become airborne and, given
22100-460: The snowpack, such as melting due to solar radiation, is the second-largest cause of natural avalanches. Other natural causes include rain, earthquakes, rockfall, and icefall. Artificial triggers of avalanches include skiers, snowmobiles, and controlled explosive work. Contrary to popular belief, avalanches are not triggered by loud sound; the pressure from sound is orders of magnitude too small to trigger an avalanche. Avalanche initiation can start at
22270-479: The snowpack, while passive measures reinforce and stabilize the snowpack in situ . The simplest active measure is repeatedly traveling on a snowpack as snow accumulates; this can be by means of boot-packing, ski-cutting, or machine grooming . Explosives are used extensively to prevent avalanches, by triggering smaller avalanches that break down instabilities in the snowpack, and removing overburden that can result in larger avalanches. Explosive charges are delivered by
22440-402: The snowpack; conversely, very cold, windy, or hot weather will weaken the snowpack. At temperatures close to the freezing point of water, or during times of moderate solar radiation, a gentle freeze-thaw cycle will take place. The melting and refreezing of water in the snow strengthens the snowpack during the freezing phase and weakens it during the thawing phase. A rapid rise in temperature, to
22610-606: The southern part of northern Norway ( Nordland county). Today, Nynorsk is the official language of not only four of the nineteen Norwegian counties but also various municipalities in five other counties. NRK , the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, and Nynorsk in 8% (2000). Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board"— Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council)— that determines, after approval from
22780-401: The strength. The load is straightforward; it is the weight of the snow. However, the strength of the snowpack is much more difficult to determine and is extremely heterogeneous. It varies in detail with properties of the snow grains, size, density, morphology, temperature, water content; and the properties of the bonds between the grains. These properties may all metamorphose in time according to
22950-443: The summer season, and achieved an 84 percent occupancy rate. The same year, Berekvam Station became unmanned. Traffic remained stable throughout the 1960s, while interest in developing the railway for tourists declined and local politicians stated that a road was needed to attract tourists to Aurland. The power station was upgraded to 14,000 kilowatts (19,000 hp) in 1969. In 1969, ridership increased by 10 percent and by 12 percent
23120-610: The syllable boundary. The pitch accents (as well as the peculiar phrase accent in the low-tone dialects) give the Norwegian language a "singing" quality that makes it easy to distinguish from other languages. Accent 1 generally occurs in words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse , and accent 2 in words that were polysyllabic. The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The letters c , q , w , x and z are only used in loanwords . As loanwords are assimilated into Norwegian, their spelling might change to reflect Norwegian pronunciation and
23290-401: The three grammatical genders from Old Norse to some extent. The only exceptions are the dialect of Bergen and a few upper class sociolects at the west end of Oslo that have completely lost the feminine gender. According to Marit Westergaard , approximately 80% of nouns in Norwegian are masculine. Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages use a suffix to indicate definiteness of
23460-421: The top to the bottom of that lee slope. When the wind blows across a ridge that leads up the mountain, the leeward side of the ridge is subject to cross-loading. Cross-loaded wind-slabs are usually difficult to identify visually. Snowstorms and rainstorms are important contributors to avalanche danger. Heavy snowfall will cause instability in the existing snowpack, both because of the additional weight and because
23630-469: The traffic was at its lowest. NSB ordered three El 9 locomotives from Thune on 4 October 1940. The units were delivered in 1942, with the electrical components from NEBB and the transformers and controllers from Per Kure . A delay was caused by bombing of Per Kure by the resistance . The locomotives were custom-built for the steep gradients on the Flåm and Hardanger Lines, and were delivered with an axle load of 12 tonnes (12 long tons; 13 short tons) and
23800-399: The train connected with a ferry service from Flåm to Gudvangen . In 1992, freight services were terminated, and due to low ticket prices and high operating costs, the line was nearly closed. In 1998, Flåm Utvikling took over marketing and ticket sale for the line, prices were heavily increased and El 17 locomotives were introduced (replaced by El 18 in 2014). The trains remain operated by
23970-475: The two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . Today there are two official forms of written Norwegian, Bokmål (Riksmål) and Nynorsk (Landsmål), each with its own variants. Bokmål developed from
24140-434: The two major fjord systems in the area, Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord . The narrow gauge Voss Line from Bergen to Voss opened in 1883, and the Bergen Line was completed as standard gauge in 1909. During the construction of the Bergen Line, the path that ran up Flåmsdalen was upgraded by NSB to allow access to the area around Myrdal. This road was used by horse carriages and later cars, becoming an important access route to
24310-426: The unofficial Høgnorsk is more conservative than Nynorsk and is far closer to Faroese , Icelandic and Old Norse . Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each student gets assigned a native form based on which school they go to, whence the other form (known as Sidemål ) will be a mandatory school subject from elementary school through high school. For instance, a Norwegian whose main language form
24480-434: The valley. The station is 6.34 kilometers (3.94 mi) from Myrdal and 557 meters (1,827 ft) AMSL. On the other side of the valley is Trodlatoppen, the site of several avalanches every year. The line then runs through the 1,029-meter-long (3,376 ft) Blomhelleer Tunnel, after which it reaches Blomheller Station , 8.40 kilometers (5.22 mi) from Myrdal and 458 meters (1,503 ft) AMSL. The railway then crosses
24650-447: The vocabulary coincides with Bokmål. Outside Eastern Norway , this spoken variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism , rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history. Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk
24820-449: The warmer months. In addition to industrially manufactured barriers, landscaped barriers, called avalanche dams stop or deflect avalanches with their weight and strength. These barriers are made out of concrete, rocks, or earth. They are usually placed right above the structure, road, or railway that they are trying to protect, although they can also be used to channel avalanches into other barriers. Occasionally, earth mounds are placed in
24990-427: The word bønder ('farmers') is pronounced using the simpler tone 1, while bønner ('beans' or 'prayers') uses the more complex tone 2. Though spelling differences occasionally differentiate written words, in most cases the minimal pairs are written alike, since written Norwegian has no explicit accent marks. In most eastern low-tone dialects, accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses
25160-568: The word, e.g.: for ('for/to'), fór ('went'), fòr ('furrow') and fôr ('fodder'). Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, most notably ï, ü , á and à . The two legally recognized forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally 'book tongue') and Nynorsk ('new Norwegian'), which are regulated by the Language Council of Norway ( Språkrådet ). Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called Riksmål ('national language'),
25330-485: The year. In mountainous areas, avalanches are among the most serious natural hazards to life and property, so great efforts are made in avalanche control . There are many classification systems for the different forms of avalanches. Avalanches can be described by their size, destructive potential, initiation mechanism, composition, and dynamics . Most avalanches occur spontaneously during storms under increased load due to snowfall and/or erosion . Metamorphic changes in
25500-509: Was again rejected. The administration office for the construction was established in 1923 and was until 1935 located at Voss. In that period, construction was led by Peter Bernhard Kristian Lahlum, who was also responsible for the Hardanger Line. After the Hardanger Line was completed, Lahlum retired, and the office was moved to Flåm where responsibility was taken over by Adolph M. B. Kielland. To start with, there were 120 men working on
25670-531: Was also sent via the line. From 1977, most of the post was instead sent by truck via Gol , and only post from Aurland went via the railway. Other products sent by the line were milk to the dairy in Voss, which terminated in 1983, as well as fruit. Partial loads saw a large increase during the 1960s, after NSB and the ferry operator Fylkesbaatane i Sogn og Fjordane teamed up to send packages via Flåm to Oslo and Bergen. Flåm had several arrivals until 1973, when Linjegods
25840-540: Was also taken into use after a similar rebuild. El 9 remained in sporadic use until 1989. Class 69 electric multiple units were taken into use starting on 10 August 1982. These had been allocated to Bergen District for use on the Bergen Commuter Rail , and were also used on the direct trains between Bergen and Flåm. The main disadvantage with the class was the small windows, as the trains were designed for commuter traffic rather than sight-seeing. In 1990,
26010-451: Was changed further towards Bokmål. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to the 1959 standard. Therefore, a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts use a more conservative standard called Høgnorsk . The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002. While the sound systems of Norwegian and Swedish are similar, considerable variation exists among
26180-480: Was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning. The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute throughout the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson proposed the neutral name Riksmål , meaning 'national language' like Landsmål , and this
26350-424: Was completed in 1935. On average, tunneling proceeded at between 116 and 180 man-hours per meter (35–55 hr/ft). The work caused death or lifelong respiratory problems through silicosis caused by inhaling the smoke. There were two fatal accidents, one in 1925 and one 1938, both related to tunnel work. Ten stations were built for the line, including a major upgrade to Myrdal and port facilities at Flåm. Myrdal Station
26520-437: Was considered by local politicians to be inferior to the Flåm alternative. A third alternative was a combined tramway and funicular , which would be built between Myrdal and Fretheim . It was estimated to cost NOK 800,000, but NSB was concerned that the proposal's light rolling stock would not be sufficient to operate through snow during the winter. Estimated traffic for the Flåm Line was 22,000 annual passengers. As both
26690-417: Was considered optimal: El 11 allowed the train weight to increase to 100 tonnes (98 long tons; 110 short tons), but the train had the steps for the voltage regulator and the commutation set for too high speeds. El 13 had rheostatic brakes , which were not suitable for the gradient; the locomotives were also better suited for mainline service and would therefore not be prioritized for branch lines. In 1972,
26860-450: Was established in 1995. Originally located in an annex of Fretheim Hotel, it moved in 1999 to the old station building at Flåm. In March 1997, NSB announced that they had plans to privatize the operations of the line from 1998. The responsibility for setting the schedule, selling tickets and marketing was transferred to Flåm Utvikling, a newly established company that NSB owned 49 percent of, and Aurland Ressursutvikling 51 percent. The latter
27030-419: Was established. Following a reorganization, the number of calls was reduced to once per week. Freight volume fell further during the 1980s; an attempt in 1978 to force the three major distributors Linjegods, Firda Billag and Sogn Billag to route traffic via the Flåm Line failed. During the 1970s, NSB started the process of finding a replacement for the El 9. New locomotives would cost NOK 20 million, and
27200-410: Was fierce, resulting in fights for customers, although it calmed down after traffic police were introduced. In 1924, there was a landslide at Høga, covering the area planned for the railway. The area was made of phyllite and was the geologically most unstable area on the route. The initial response was to plan for a tunnel past the area, but this was quickly rejected because of the high price. Instead,
27370-457: Was for the railway. This total included NOK 2.3 million for a power station and NOK 1.2 million for a ferry quay at Flåm. The largest cost was for earthwork, which ended at NOK 9.1 million; other major costs were NOK 2.4 million for rolling stock, NOK 1.6 million for stations, NOK 1.2 for tracks, NOK 1.5 million for snow protection and NOK 675,000 for electrification. Regular operation with electric locomotives
27540-553: Was given side tracks and additional buildings to serve transferring passengers, with the upgrades costing NOK 0.5 million. Berekvam was the only place on-route which received a passing loop. Flåm Station cost NOK 0.8 million and was designed in the 1930s NSB simple wooden functionalist style, similar to what is found on the Nordland Line and the Sørland Line . Other stations received small, wooden buildings with
27710-453: Was implemented in the first official reform of the Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917. Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. Ivar Aasen , a botanist and self-taught linguist, began his work to create a new Norwegian language at the age of 22. He traveled around the country collecting words and examples of grammar from
27880-412: Was introduced on 25 November 1944. To begin with, Class 64 railcars were used. NSB had originally planned to use electric multiple units , but changed the plans during the war and instead decided to use locomotives and cars. The Class 64 trains remained in service on the Flåm Line until May 1947. They were normally used on the Hardanger Line, but were regularly taken back into use on the Flåm Line when
28050-461: Was necessary on the Flåm Line. From 1949 there were two locomotives on the Flåm Line and from 1955 all three were used there. Five passenger cars in aluminum were delivered by Strømmens Værksted . The cost of the three locomotives and five cars was NOK 2.4 million. The railway quickly saw an increase in traffic, with an average 11 percent annual increase from the opening until the mid-1950s. In part to allow access to Kjosfossen, Kjosfossen Station
28220-641: Was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. The name Riksmål is sometimes interpreted as 'state language', but this meaning is secondary at best. (Compare to Danish rigsmål from where the name was borrowed.) After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Riksmål was, in 1929, officially renamed Bokmål (literally 'book language'), and Landsmål to Nynorsk (literally 'new Norwegian'). A proposition to substitute Danish-Norwegian ( dansk-norsk ) for Bokmål lost in parliament by
28390-440: Was opened in 1951. By then, ridership had stabilized at 115,000 people per year. A significant portion of the traffic consisted of tourists, in part from cruise ships docked in Flåm. In the latter half of the decade, NSB launched the Norway in a Nutshell package, which included a ride on the Flåm Line. A sleeping car was introduced on the night train between Flåm and Oslo in 1958. It made three trips in each direction per week during
28560-577: Was owned by Aurland Municipality , the Industrial Development Corporation of Norway and Aurland Sparebank , a local bank. Flåm Utvikling also took over responsibility for other tourism-related activities in Flåm, such as port facilities. NSB would still operate the trains, and Flåm Utvikling would pay NSB the cost of running the trains, but keep the profits from the ticket sales. The Norwegian National Rail Administration , which had been established in 1996 and had taken over
28730-411: Was set to minimum 150 meters (490 ft), although exceptionally 125 meters (410 ft) was permitted. The steepest permitted gradient was 5.5 percent (1:18). In 1915, the first proposal was launched for using a bus service as an alternative to the train. This was rejected because buses were not able to give the comfort and reliability of a train. The idea was proposed again in 1922 by the director of
28900-443: Was to build a road to Flåm, with the proposal being led by Hans Kristian Seip , who was director of Bergen Public Road Administration. In 1925, following the appointment of Mowinckel's First Cabinet , it was proposed that the railway be built as a road, and the tracks laid later. One of NSB's board members proposed instead building a suspended railway . The plans to cancel the railway were stopped because of parliamentarian support for
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