The Vika Line () is a light rail section of the Oslo Tramway in Oslo, Norway. It runs between Wessels plass, through the neighborhood of Vika and Aker Brygge, before arriving at Solli. The section is served by SL79 trams on line 12. The line is owned by the municipal company Kollektivtransportproduksjon, and operated by its subsidiary Oslo Sporvognsdrift.
The line was opened on 21 August 1995 to serve the newly redeveloped areas with a high concentration of jobs. From 1875 to 1961, the Vika area has also been served by the Vestbanen Line. The line serves the large working areas at Aker Brygge, that has many corporate head offices, as well as the Oslo City Hall and The City Hall Square. The line provides connection to the city's water bus services to Nesodden and Bygdøy.
History
Vestbanen Line
The first line at Vika was built by Kristiania Sporveisselskab, and opened as a horsecar route from Oslo West Station to Stortorvet on 10 October 1875. It was electrified in 1899, and extended to Skillebekk in 1909, as what became the Skøyen Line. The Vestbanen Line was closed in 1961, one year after the city council decided to gradually close the city's tramway.
Planning
During the 1980s, the former shipyard of Akers Mekaniske Verksted at Vika went through an urban redevelopment. Several large companies started building corporate head offices at the area known as Aker Brygge, that also featured shopping and residential areas. The Vika area had by the mid-1990s 5,000 residents and 30,000 jobs. With the construction of the Festning Tunnel, it would also become possible to make The City Hall Square, the square in front of Oslo City Hall, car-free.
Plans were launched in a report in 1989, that summarized the possibilities for different public transport expansions throughout Oslo. In October, an agreement was reached where the to build the line would be split evenly between the municipality, the state and the private real estate developers: Aker Eiendom, Olav Thon Eiendomsselskap and Berdal Strømme. By 1990, municipal-owned Oslo Sporveier, the then owner and operator of the tramway, stated that the project would be profitable, and contribute NOK 4.9 million per year to the company. This meant that the municipality could recover the investment within three years.
In 1992, the city council gave funding for the project. One of the suggestions for the private financing of the project, was for the companies to create a kommandittselskap, and purchase two trams from the city for NOK 8 million each. The Vika Line was also seen as part of a possible light rail version of the Ring Line—a circular line that was to connect northern Oslo between east and west without passing through the city center. Had the light rail solution not been discarded in favor of making the ring part of the Oslo T-bane, the Vika trams would, after reaching Majorstuen, have continued onwards towards Rikshospitalet, that opened in 1999, and Nydalen.
Construction
The city council made the final decision to build the line on 18 May 1994, supported by the Labour Party, Socialist Left Party, Centre Party and the Red Electoral Alliance. The right-winged opposition parties opposed the suggestion, arguing that financing was not yet finalized, and that they wanted to have The City Hall Square completely free of all traffic, not just automobiles. City Commissioner of Transport and the Environment, Raymond Johansen from the Socialist Left Party, argued that building the line would creating a more people-friendly city center, and allow the different parts of the city center to be better connected with public transport.
Construction started on 18 August 1994, when Raymond Johansen lay down the first track. By then, inflation had adjusted the construction cost to NOK 53.5 million. The line opened on 21 August 1995. When the line opened, it was served by two lines: no. 10 Jar–Sinsen–Disen and no. 15 Majorstuen–Frogner–Sagene. The line was the first new street tram line to be built in Oslo since the Sinsen Line opened in 1939. Estimates before opening showed that the line should have 900,000 riders the first year. By June 1996, the two lines had a daily ridership increase of 2,300, a 19% increase.
With the redevelopment of the Bjørvika and Vippetangen areas, located east of The City Hall Square, three other segments of tramway have been proposed to be built along the fjord edge, and could connect to the Vika Line in the future.