The Jarlsberg Tunnel () is a long

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

railway tunnel which runs through

Frodeåsen Frodeåsen is a hill on the northwestern edge town of Tønsberg in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. Reaching above mean sea level, it serves largely as a recreational area for the local residents. Two tunnels run through the ...

in the city of

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

Tønsberg Municipality Tønsberg () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tønsberg, ...

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Located on the

Vestfold Line The Vestfold Line () is a railway line which runs between Drammen and Eidanger in Norway. The line connects to the Drammen Line at the northern terminus at Drammen Station and continues as the Bratsberg Line past Skien Station. The line is excl ...

, the tunnel was built as part of the double-track high-speed segment from Barkåker to Tønsberg. It is located just north of

Tønsberg Station Tønsberg Station on the Vestfold Line, is the main railway station in the town of Tønsberg in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The station is located in the downtown area, to the east of the hill Slottsfjellet. It is located ...

and runs between Frodegata and Tomsbakken. Most of the tunnel is blasted, although is in a concrete

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

. Planning of the tunnel started in the late 1990s. Several railway interest groups advised against building the isolated segment of upgraded track without a complete plan for upgrading the entire line. Construction started in April 2009 and the new section and the tunnel opened on 7 November 2011. It was the fourth segment of the Vestfold Line to be upgraded. __TOC__

Specifications

The Jarlsberg Tunnel runs roughly north–south through Frodeåsen, a hill just north of the town center of

. The northern entrance is located at Tomsbakken, beside County Road 35 and the southern entrance is located at Frodegata in the town center. Just south of the tunnel lies

. The tunnel is long, of which is blasted through bedrock and is concrete culvert. The portal on the Tønsberg side is long. The Jarlsberg Tunnel constitutes the southernmost part of the double-track segment of the Vestfold Line between Barkåker and Tønsberg. It is electrified at , has an NSI-63 signaling system and is dimensioned for . The crosscut serves as an emergency exit. The railway tunnel crosses above the

Frodeåsen Tunnel The Frodeåsen Tunnel () is a long twin-tube, four lane road tunnel in the town of Tønsberg in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The tunnel is part of County Road 300, and it runs through the large hill Frodeåsen between Kje ...

, a twin-tube tunnel of County Road 300. The tunnel's single crosscut serves as an emergency exit. The line is owned and maintained by the

Norwegian National Rail Administration Jernbaneverket () was a government agency responsible for owning, maintaining, operating and developing the Norwegian railway network, including the track, stations, classification yards, traffic management and timetables. Safety oversight ...

History

The Vestfold Line opened in 1881 as a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

railway. Although later converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

and electrified, the line retains poor capacity and many curves. The only previous tunnel north of

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

is the Smørstein Tunnel, which was completed in 1921. In the early 1990s, work started on increasing speed, capacity and reliability by building shorter sections of double-track with higher permitted speeds. During this period, there was very little investment funding for railways; thus the Vestfold Line was split into a series of small segments, each which was planned individually. Between 1995 and 2003, three sections with a combined length of were opened. The segment between Barkåker and Tønsberg was the fourth section of the line to be upgraded. When later projects are completed, it will allow travel time from Tønsberg to

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

to be reduced from 90 to 60 minutes. Jarlsbergtunnelen bygges

Initial planning of the segment between Barkåker and Tønsberg considered 13 different initial route proposals. However, no analysis for possible rights-of-way south of Tønsberg or north of Barkåker were considered. In September 1999, the government presented their proposal for National Transport Plan 2002–11, which included three segments on the Vestfold Line: Holm–Nykirke, Barkåker–Tønsberg and

Farriseidet Farriseidet is a moraine located in the northwestern part of the town center of Larvik, Norway. It separates Larvikfjorden from the lake of Farris Farris is a lake on the border of Telemark and Vestfold counties in Norway. The long freshwat ...

–

Porsgrunn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...

. When

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

passed the plan in February 2001, the Barkåker–Tønsberg segment was prioritized second on the Vestfold Line, after a new

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

Nykirke Nykirke () is a village in Horten Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located along the European route E18 highway about to the west of the town of Horten, about to the south of the town of Holmestrand, and about to the ...

. National Transport Plan 2002–11 proposed that construction start in 2005, but by November 2002, the National Rail Administration delayed the plans, following investment cuts by

Bondevik's Second Cabinet Bondevik's Second Cabinet governed Norway between 19 October 2001 and 17 October 2005. It was led by Kjell Magne Bondevik and consisted of the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative Party, the Christian Democratic Party (Norway), Christian De ...

. In response,

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

Torild Skogsholm Torhild Skogsholm (born 18 October 1959, in Bodø) is a Norwegian politician (Liberal Party).Torild Skogsholm
in

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...

paid through a surcharge on tickets fares. The route will give a time saving of between three and four minutes for trains heading north of Tønsberg, but two minutes of these will be saved by changing the direction the trains run through the loop through town. Thus, passengers traveling southwards from Tønsberg experience a two-minute increase in travel time. The plan to make an isolated investment in the Barkåker–Tønsberg section was criticized by several pro-railway interest organizations, including Norsk Bane, For Jernbane, the

Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature (, NNV), also known as Friends of the Earth Norway, is one of the largest Norwegian environmental organisations with approximately 24,000 members. The organisation is based on a volunteer work ...

as well as the

Norwegian State Railways Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...

(NSB)—who operates the train service. All recommended that the National Rail Administration place the investments on hold until more of the Vestfold Line was planned. NSB's Tom Ingulstad called the plans "troublesome" and stated that the trains would have nearly no time or reliability-gains from the investment. If the authority instead had built more double track in connection with the existing segment at Sande, trains could more efficiently catch up any delays before reaching

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

. Long-term plans for the line imply that the line will need to allow a through speed of at least and be built so trains do not need to stop or slow down at all stations. The National Rail Administration had at the time of construction not made any plans for a route south of Tønsberg; estimates from Norsk Bane show that Tønsberg will not be able to allow high through speeds and that a new through line would have to be built with a different right-of-way, entirely avoiding the Jarlsberg Tunnel. Alternatively, the route would have to feature slow speeds or large encroachments on the local environment. By binding the Vestfold Line to run via Barkåker, it is not possible to build a high-speed line with stations serving population centers such as

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

Åsgårdstrand Åsgårdstrand (historically spelled ''Aasgaardstrand'') is a small port List of towns and cities in Norway, town in both Horten Municipality, Horten and Tønsberg Municipality, Tønsberg municipalities in Vestfold county, Norway. The town is loc ...

and Eik. For Jernbane advised against building the Barkåker–Tønsberg segment and instead recommended that the authorities wait until the entire Vestfold Line was planned. Following the appointment of

Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition government, coalition between the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party (Norway), Socialist Left Party a ...

in 2005, the government started working with longer projects and increased funding. The go-ahead for the project was given by Minister of Transport

Liv Signe Navarsete Liv Signe Navarsete (born 23 October 1958 in Sogndal Municipality) is a Norwegian politician from the Centre Party. She has served as county governor of Vestland county since 2022. She previously served as Minister of Local Government from 2009 ...

on 31 March 2008, with the entire project from Barkåker to Tønsberg estimated to cost 1.37 billion

Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...

(NOK). The main civil engineering advisor for the project was Norconsult. Six bids were issued to building the main segment, which included the tunnel and from Tomsbakken to Barkåker Industrial Park. The bidders were a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Reinertsen and Leonard Nilsen,

Veidekke Veidekke () is the largest Norwegian construction and civil engineering company and the fourth largest in Scandinavia. Veidekke's business involves a network of Scandinavia construction and engineering operations, rehabilitation work, major hea ...

Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. It was established in 1887 as a concrete product manufacturer. History Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scanian Cement Casting Ltd) was established i ...

, Hæhre Entreprenør, NCC and

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname, and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footba ...

. The contract was awarded on 5 March 2009 to Reinertsen/Leonard Nilsen, who had the lowest bid, NOK 377.9 million, NOK 158 million less than the most expensive, from Mika. The joint venture was structured so Leonard Nilsen built the tunnel and Reinertsen the above-ground section. Construction of the project started on 16 March 2009; work on the tunnel started in April and the first blasting began on 11 May. Construction ran from a crosscut in the center of the tunnel and outwards; average speed was per week. Work on casting the concrete portals started on 18 September. For four weeks, starting in January 2010, blasting was performed above the Frodeåsen Tunnel, and on each occasion that the 100 or so blasts were executed, the road was closed for safety reasons. Following a public naming competition, the National Rail Administration announced on 5 February 2010 that the tunnel be known as the Jarlsberg Tunnel. The first breakthrough of the tunnel was achieved on 30 June 2010. The second and final breakthrough took place on 1 September. Construction proceeded without any injuries and nearly without any complications. The tunneling resulted in of earthwork, which was used to build the above-ground section north of the tunnel. The last concrete casting was laid on 20 January 2011. Laying of the track was performed by Wiebe, signaling was installed by Norsk Jernbanedrift, Structon Rail installed the overhead wire, and YIT installed the power supply and telecommunications systems. The tunnel has the NSI-63

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

-based signaling system, although it was scheduled to be replaced by

European Rail Traffic Management System The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...

shortly after 2015. The last six weeks before opening, the Vestfold Line was closed to allow the new and old sections to be connected. This was the most hectic part of construction, as it saw the tracks south of the tunnel be rearranged to allow trains to operate the opposite direction through the loop in Tønsberg. The work was performed by Reinertsen and took 100,000

man-hour A man-hour or human-hour is the amount of work performed by the average worker in one hour. It is used for estimation of the total amount of uninterrupted labor required to perform a task. For example, researching and writing a college paper ...

s. The tunnel and the segment Barkåker–Tønsberg opened on schedule on 7 November 2011. The segment cost NOK 1.5 billion, which was within budget. However, at the time of the opening, double track was still not laid from the tunnel to Tønsberg Station. Previously, trains crossed each other at the passing loop at the closed

Barkåker Station Barkåker is a village in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located along the European route E18 highway, about to the northwest of the city of Tønsberg. Sem Church lies about to the south of the village. The ...

, with one train having to wait for the other. With the competition of the new segment, trains could pass at any point between Tønsberg and Barkåker, allowing increased reliability. However, the signaling system was not installed at the time of opening, so the tunnel remained only operated with single track, although a temporary signaling system allowed it to be used as a passing loop. If used as such, speed was limited to .

References

{{Good article Tunnels on the Vestfold Line Tønsberg Tunnels completed in 2011 2011 establishments in Norway Railway tunnels in Vestfold