Blindern is a

rapid transit station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in th ...

on the

Oslo Metro The Oslo Metro ( no, Oslo T-bane or or simply ) is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Sporveien T-banen on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of five lines that all run through the city centre, w ...

's Sognsvann Line. It is situated in the

Blindern Blindern is the main campus of the University of Oslo, located in Nordre Aker in Oslo, Norway. Campus Most of the departments of the University of Oslo are located at Blindern; other, smaller campuses include Sentrum (law), Gaustad (medicine ...

neighborhood of the

Nordre Aker Nordre Aker (Northern Aker) is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. History This area became part of the city of Oslo in 1948. Before that it was a part of Aker municipality in the former Akershus county. Demographics and housing With a popula ...

borough of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Located from

Stortinget The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

, the station is served by lines 4 and 5 of the metro, with a combined five-minute

headway Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system measured in space or time. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise defi ...

. Travel time to Stortinget is seven minutes. Along with Forskningsparken, it serves the campus of the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

. The station opened on 10 October 1934 along with the rest of the Sognsvann Line. Until 1994 the station was called Blindernveien, named for the road which crossed the line at a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass An overpass (called ...

. The station received a major upgrade in 1993, in which longer platforms and an overpass for pedestrians were installed.

History

Construction of single dwellings in the area commenced in the 1920, starting off with the Blindern Haveby estate. In 1920 the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

decided that the area would be the main campus for the

. Meanwhile, Aker Municipality worked with plans for construction of a suburban railway which would serve the areas around Blindern.

Holmenkolbanen A/S Holmenkolbanen was a company that owned and operated part of the Oslo Tramway and Oslo Metro in Norway from 1898 until 1975 when services were taken over by the majority owner Oslo Sporveier. Holmenkolbanen opened the Holmenkoll Line in 1898, ...

was granted permission in 1922, but the plans were placed on hold. Work commenced again in 1933 and the line opened on 10 October 1934. It was originally called Blindernveien. Sognsvannsbanen 7

The

Norwegian Meteorological Institute The Norwegian Meteorological Institute ( no, Meteorologisk institutt), also known internationally as MET Norway, is Norway's national meteorological institute. It provides weather forecasts for civilian and military uses and conducts research in m ...

moved to Blindern in 1937, but large-scale development of the campus did not take place until the 1960s. During the 1980s, the city decided to connect the four suburban lines west of the city center with the Oslo Metro. The Sognsvann Line was selected as the first line to be upgraded, so the two systems would become compatible. The line was upgraded to metro standard by replacing the overhead wire with a

third-rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a ...

and installing

automatic train protection Automatic train protection (ATP) is a type of train protection system which continually checks that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it is ...

. The upgrade also involved standardizing the design on all the stations on the Sognsvann Line. The station cut off the road Blindernveien, as it could not longer cross the tracks. Originally the plans had called for the street to be carried over the station on an overpass. This was protested by local residents, and eventually led to a much smaller overpass being built which only carried a combined pedestrian and bicycle path. The station took the new name Blindern from 1994. From 4 April 1993 trains along the Sognsvann Line were connected to the eastern part of the metro, initially connected with the

Østensjø Line The Østensjø Line ( no, Østensjøbanen) is a line on the Oslo Metro which runs from Brynseng to Mortensrud. It further shares track with the Lambertseter Line along the section from Tøyen to Brynseng. The line runs through the primary resid ...

. From 8 April 1995 the trains from the

Grorud Line The Grorud Line ( no, Grorudbanen) is a line on the Oslo Metro between Tøyen and Vestli in Oslo, Norway. Built as a mix of underground, at ground level and as an elevated line, it runs through the northern part of Groruddalen, serving such ...

terminated at Blindern. From 20 August 2003 the new Ring Line opened and Line 5 continued through it. The university was working for renovation of the station for its bicentennial anniversary in 2011, but this was never carried out due to lack of funding. The project would have seen new platforms and a new overpass with separate bicycle and pedestrian pathways.

Service

The station is served by lines 4 and 5 of the Oslo Metro. During regular hours, each operates at a 15-minute headway. Line 5 passes twice through the Ring, so that there are services every five minutes to the city center and twice every fifteen minutes to the Ring Line. Travel time to Stortinget is seven minutes. Operations are carried out by

Sporveien T-banen Sporveien T-banen AS is a limited company that is responsible for operating Oslo Metro ( no, Oslo T-bane), the rapid transit in Oslo, Norway. The company is owned by Sporveien, which is owned by the city council. Sporveien operates on a contract w ...

on contract with

Ruter Ruter AS is the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus counties in Norway. Formally a limited company – 60% of its shares are owned by the Oslo county municipality and 40% by that of Akershus – it is responsible for the administrat ...

, the public transport authority in Oslo and Akershus. The infrastructure itself is owned by

Sporveien Sporveien Oslo AS is a municipally owned public transport operator in Oslo, Norway. It operates the trackage and maintains the stock of the Oslo Metro and Oslo Tramway, as well as owning eight operating subsidiaries. In 2005, its 2,365 emplo ...

, a municipal company. Service is provided using

MX3000 MX3000 is an electric train used on Oslo Metro in Oslo, Norway. The multiple units are produced by Siemens Mobility, who started serial delivery in 2007. Seventy-eight three-car units were ordered by Sporveien, and five by Akershus County Munic ...

three- and six-car trains. The station had an average 4,989 boarding passengers in 2002, ranking ninth among the metro stations that year. It is located in fare zone 1, which overlaps with the borders of Oslo Municipality.

Facilities

Blindern is a rapid transit station situated on the Sognsvann Line, from Stortinget in the city center. It is an open ground station featuring two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a railway platform, platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or bus rapid transit, transitway. ...

s. The station meets the metro standard of the Oslo Metro. This includes two side platforms and an overpass. The station is designed by Arne Henriksen and features a short shelter on each platform. The station is located on the western side of the Blindern campus of the University of Oslo, from which the station derives a significant portion of its traffic.

References

{{Oslo Metro Oslo Metro stations in Oslo Railway stations opened in 1934 1934 establishments in Norway