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Wondering how much TIME the scheduled maintenance will/might add to the train trip....

My wife and I are going to do some of the Norway in a Nutshell route. We are only planning to take the train from Oslo to Flam on Oct. 10th, 2017 and stay 2 nights in Flam, so we can have 1 full day just around Flam, and then head back to Oslo on Oct 12th, so we can catch a DFDS seaways overnight ferry to Copenhagen.

We fly into Oslo on the 9th and are forced to leave the next day on the 10th for Flam (If we take the train. However, I thought of renting a car to go out to Myrdal and take the Flambana train into Flam. But, maybe that's a dumb idea.)

But, the wife wants to stay in Flam for a full day after we get there, thus 2 nights. So, we leave on 12th to catch our DFDS seaways ferry by 1630. The gate closes at 1615 for loading.

The earliest train out of Flam is 0825 and arrival at the Oslo S station by the riverfront is 1425. However, it says there is a DEVIATION.

It says:

Bane NOR is carrying out planned maintenance works on the Hønefoss-Flå
line Monday to Saturday between 04:55 and 11:40 from 27. September to
26. October.

Which is when we are traveling. My numerous communications with the NSB.NO chat people have not been too helpful. They are unwilling to say whether the arrival time of 1425 is accounting for the possible delay where they will have to bus you for a portion of the trip. Which from Hønefoss to Flå looks to be approximately 1 hours worth? If it is the whole stretch from Hønefoss to Flå... They keep telling me to just wait and see untill the time gets closer but really who can wait and see?

If the stated arrival time of 1425 is not accounting for the need for bus deviation during the trip, I'm wondering if it won't add more than 1 hour to the total travel time. That would give us still enough time to walk 19 minutes to the DFDS seaways terminal or take a 8 min car ride there. The DFDS gate closes at 1615.

Does anyone have experience with these planned maintenance deviations? Or if you think it is safe to go ahead and plan on this close of a connection?

Brad

Posted by
16895 posts

I understand your concern and have these observations:

  • The scheduled travel times on the affected date of Thursday, Oct. 12 are the same as those in August and September, before the construction period, so it does not reflect any expected delays. They may not actually need a replacement bus but might just run a bit slower through some work zones.

  • Even better, when you look at stops along the way, your train is scheduled to be in the work zone after the work period ends at 11:40. You pass Gol at 11:37, which is 73 km before reaching the construction start point at Flå in the east-bound direction.

  • The times I see on www.nsb.no are departing Flåm at 8:35, catching a connection at Myrdal at 9:50, and arriving into Oslo at 14:45, 20 minutes later than how you typed it. But assuming the same not-more-than-one-hour delay possibilities that you did, I I would go ahead to book these connections. Plan to take a taxi rather than walking 19 minutes with luggage under a deadline.

Posted by
7 posts

Thank you so much Laura.

Your educated information helped us make a decision!

Plus, it looks like now it showed that there was no railway maintenance at that time. So, anyway, thank your for the help!

Brad