Briskeby Line

The Briskeby Line consists of a shared section with the Skøyen Line from Jernbanetorget until it leaves Henrik Ibsens gate at Inkognitogata, just before Solli plass. This segment is known as the Southern String. West-bound trams run along Fred. Olsens gate and Prinsens gate before reaching Stortingsgata. East-bound trams run from Stortingsgata along Nedre Vollgate, Tollbugata and Strandgata to Jernbanetorget. Along these sections there are three stations: Dronningens gate (east-bound only), Kongens gate (west-bound only) and Wessels plass (east-bound only). There is a connection to Stortorvet through Kirkegata (west-bound) and Kongens gate (east-bound). The Vika Line deviates from the Briskeby Line through Akersgata. The concurrent section continued along Stortingsgata, where it passes Nationaltheatret. It then turns onto Henrik Ibsens gate (previously known as Drammensveien) and passes Slottsparken. The concurrent section ends at the intersection of Inkognitogata, where the Briskeby Line turns off and the Skøyen Line continues onwards to Solli. where there is an eponymous station. It turns onto Riddervolds gata, which it follows past the station Briskeby. It then turns onto Holtegata, where it serves the station of Uranienborg. There is a branch through Professor Dahls gate which allows trams to reach the Ullevål Hageby Line. The main line continues another block and turns onto Bogstadveien, where it connects with the Homansbyen Line. On this section it serves the eponymous Bogstadveien stop, which replaced the earlier Rosenborg and Schultz' gate. The line continues along Valkyriegata for the very last bit before turning onto Kirkeveien and reaching Majorstuen. At Majorstuen the line can return as a turning loop through Bogstadveien. It also intersects with the Frogner Line, which continues to run along Kirkeveien. Via Valkyriegata there is a branch to the Oslo Tramway Museum and the closed Majorstuen Depot, which is no longer operational and also partially covered in asphalt. ==Services==

From Jernbanetorget the shared section is served by lines 11, 12 and 13. Line 12 branches off onto the Vika Line at Akersgata. Lines 11 and 13 continue along the main branch to Inkognitogata, at which point line 13 crosses over Solli Plass before following the Skøyen Line to Jar and Bekkestua in Bærum. Line 11 on the other hand moves onto the Briskeby Line proper, on which part it serves the stations Inkognitogata, Riddervolds plass, Briskeby and Rosenborg. At Rosenborg it connects with line 19, and from this junction they both continue to the terminus Majorstuen, also the endpoint of the Frogner Line. All lines operate with a ten-minute headway during most of the day. At Nationaltheatret and Majorstuen there is transfer to all lines of the Oslo Metro. Mainline railway services are provided at Nationaltheatret Station and Oslo Central Station—the latter located adjacent to Jernbanetorget. The latter site is also a transfer hub granting access to all lines of the Oslo Tramway. Although from 4 October 2020; Line 13 does not stop at Jernbanetorget, but Dronningens gate. Services are carried out by Sporveien Trikken, which operates SL79 trams on lines 11 and 19. These trams are owned by Oslo Vognselskap. Ownership and maintenance of the infrastructure are the responsibilities of Sporveien, a municipal company which also owns the operator. Services are ordered and coordinated by the transit agency Ruter. ==History==

tram in Riddervolds gate in 1926 The Oslo Tramway was established as a horsecar network in 1875 by Kristiania Sporveisselskab (1875). In 1887 it rejected a proposal for L. Samson, a real estate developer, to build a line to Majorstuen to serve his projects. He therefore contacted engineers H. E. Heyerdal and A. Fenger-Krog, the latter who had studied tramways abroad. They sent an application that year to the municipality, at a time when there were no other electric tramways in operation in Europe. However, the application did not explicitly state that the company would use electric traction. The group received permission to build two lines, one from Jernbanetorget to Majorstuen and a branch to Skøyen, a total distance of . Use of overhead wires had been discouraged by the city engineer, but he later changed his mind after a trip to Germany. The issue was decided upon by the municipal council on 19 May 1892. Investments totaled NOK 817,572. in the second half of the 1940 Trial runs on the line commenced on 10 January 1894, at first between the depot and corner of Bogstadveien and Sorgenfriveien. Motorman courses were carried out by AEG from 15 January to 16 February. The first trip to the Queen's Park was carried out on 17 February and the first run to Jernbanetorget was completed on 20 February. The official opening took place on 2 March 1894 and operations commenced the following day. The Briskeby Line was the first electric tramway in the Nordic Countries. The Skøyen Line to Fredrik Stangs gate opened the same day. The same year a tram driver on the line received Norway's first ever speeding ticket for exceeding the speed limit of . Services were initially provided using Class A trams. The motormen were to both drive and sell tickets, but this was found to be too much work for one person to do efficiently. Conductors were therefore introduced almost immediately. Originally services consisted of a tram from Majorstuen to Jerbanetorget every six minutes. At Parkveien there was a transfer between the Skøyen and Briskeby Line. This proved a difficult, as trams from Majorstuen were full and most passengers were forced to walk into town. Therefore, from April KES introduced direct services from Skillebekk on the Skøyen Line to Jernbanetorget. It quickly turned out the company had too few trams and four more were delivered by the end of the year. A balloon loop was installed at Jernbanetorget on 10 November 1909. In conjunction with the 1914 Jubilee Exhibition, the Frogner Line was extended from Frogner plass to Majorstuen. It was officially opened on 15 May 1914. From the services became a ring line: Line 1 ran Jernbanetorget–Briskeby–Majorstuen–Frogner–Jernbanetorget, while Line 2 was designated to run the opposite direction. They were both run every five minutes. The circle scheme was ended on 15 December 1915 and the Briskeby Line again became Line 1. However, this was unpopular with the passengers and the circle service was reintroduced on 24 February 1916. Line 1 was extended from Jernbanetorget along the Gamlebyen Line between 17 December 1917 to 1 October 1918. Six-minute services were introduced from 25 March 1920, five-minute headways from 19 July 1920 and six-minute headways from 25 July 1921. SM53 trams were introduced on some services on the line from 7 April 1953. From 6 September 1953 the combination of lines 1 and 5 was dropped and instead 1 and 2 were combined, allowing the circle through Majorstua to continue. The headway was reduced to 15 minutes. This was altered again on 25 June 1961, when the headway varied between 10, 12 and 15 depending on the time of day. Later that year Oslo Sporveier announced new plans to remove tram services, this time both the Briskeby and the Homansbyen services, along with the Sinsen Line. The issue was resolved with increased funding granted on 11 November. trams meeting at Nationaltheatret in 1976 From 2001 Oslo Sporveier and later Ruter removed the Briskeby Line from its long-term investment plans, cutting maintenance to a minimum. Oslo Sporveier carried out a series of improvements to the Briskeby Line between 2004 and 2006. Rosenborgs gate was moved to serve both lines 11 and 19, giving it twice the number of departures. Both lines had their headway cut from 15 to 10 minutes. The station were made more visible and parking restrictions were carried out in Inkognitogata. Meltzers gate was closed as a station. This cause decreased travel time, and saw the daily ridership rise from 1,300 to 2,250 boarding passengers from 2003 to 2007. ==Line Upgrades==

The Briskeby Line was majorly in poor condition due to insufficient maintenance. The transit authorities are in the process of upgrading the line, which will involve new stations, possibly located at more suitable locations. A report published by Ruter found several shortcomings in the line. In addition to its low technical standard, it often sees operations interrupted by incorrectly parked cars, especially in Riddervolds gate. The intersection of Inkognitogata and Riddervolds gate have a curve radius of , which hinders the newer SL95 trams from operating on the line. Owing to the use of Inkognitogata, the services do not pass through the important transit hub at Solli plass. tram at Briskeby Ruter is working on plans to make a full upgrade of the line from Briskebyveien to Henrik Ibsens gate. The agency is considering two lines of action: either building the route along the current right-of-way, or moving the section from Riddervolds gate and Inkognitoveien to Skovveien. The latter would involve that the Briskeby Line link up with the Frogner Line in Frognerveien and run concurrently with it to Solli plass. In the city center, the one-way track in Tollbugata has been moved to Prinsens gate. This made Prinsens gate a pure tram street, while buses have been designated to Tollbugata. Construction commenced in 2014 and was completed by 2017. The Gamlebyen Line was moved to Dronning Eufemias gate through Bjørvika, which aligned it to Prinsens gate. Ruter is planning on placing tram tracks in Frederiks gate, which will trams to pass between the Ullevål Hageby Line to the Briskeby Line and thus serve Nationaltheatret. It will also allow trams access to Stortorvet and Jernbanetorget via the Ullevål Hageby Line's in case of disruptions. Construction is planned to start springtime 2025, with project completion and commissioning of the upgraded route late 2026/early 2027. ==References==