Fjellsikring on Flåmsbana
Building a rockfall barrier along the Flåm Railway: drilling foundation bolts, flying out the Menzi Muck by helicopter, and mounting the nets.
Introduction
I spent some time working on the Flåm Railway (Flåmsbana) doing fjellsikring (rockfall protection) work.
Walking to the Worksite
Every day we needed to walk about 1.7 km with 200 m of elevation. Half the trip was along typical steep Norwegian trails, and the other half was along train tracks and through a tunnel.
While we were walking on the tracks, it was very important to have good communication with, and trust in, the hovedsikkerhetsvakt (HSV, roughly “chief safety guard”). The HSV is responsible for ensuring there is communication between the train coordinators and the workers, making sure there is no conflict, i.e. no workers or equipment on the tracks when there is a train on that same section of track.
The View
The view from the workplace was very nice. We could see the switchback road going up, along with a good view of the rails on the way up, so we would see the trains go left to right, then right to left, then left to right one last time. This is due to the unique way Flåmsbana snakes its way up the valley. The “vendetunnelen” (the Vatnahalsen Tunnel) turns back on itself inside the mountain, so the line can double back and keep the grade climbable by trains.
Drilling and the Helicopter Lift
When I first got there, we finished drilling one bolt for the fence foundations. Then we prepared the Menzi Muck A20 to fly it out. If you are interested in other Menzi Muck work, check out my first proper Menzi Muck job.
It is always exciting working with helicopters. Everything needs to be planned and run smoothly and quickly. The lift went well.
Helicopter lifting the Menzi
Attaching the Nets
After the lift, we started attaching the nets to the cables that span the top and bottom of the net. This is generally not very physically or technically hard work, but it is very tedious. The physically most challenging part is carrying the metal parts to where they are mounted on the fence.
Closing Thoughts
At the end of my time working there, it began to snow. It was very nice to see the area during the fall, and fun to work with new people in a new place. The engineering and effort that went into building this railway from the early 1900s into the 1940s is impressive. Flåmsbana has a good history page with historical pictures from the construction. It is difficult terrain to walk in, let alone build a railway.