A cable railway has been built inside Mount Gausta. The Gausta Line consists of a battery-powered carriage on rails which transports passengers approx. 860 metres horizontally into the mountain. At this point there is an intermediate transfer station from which a shuttle line runs upwards at an angle for 1040 metres to a height of 1800 metres above sea level. At the top there is an exit which leads passengers out on to the so-called Tuddalstippen, just below the Mount Gausta Tourist Chalet.
The line was built in order to transport people and equipment up to a height of 1800 metres, and as a military transport system which is unique in global terms. A unit of the Norwegian armed forces, which was involved in the installation of radio links on Mount Gausta, was keen to gain year-round access to the peak regardless of the weather. They then conceived the idea of copying the developers of hydroelectric power stations by excavating a tunnel into the mountainside. The cost of the line on completion in 1958 was one million dollars. Today the price would have been so prohibitive that the line would never have been built. The Mount Gausta line was also originally intended to be used for transporting tourists up to the peak of Mount Gausta, but unfortunately the Cold War came along. The line was closed to the public, and it was not until 2003 that it was reopened to accommodate tourist traffic.
The Gaustabanen funicular was launched in 1953, but initially only as an April fools’ joke in the local newspaper. Read about the April fools’ joke that became reality here!
Jernbanegt 8
N-3660 Rjukan
Tel: +47 951 04 925
Web: www.gaustabanen.no