Sognsvann is a

rapid transit station A metro station or subway station is a train 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 syste ...

of the

Oslo Metro The Oslo Metro ( 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, with a total leng ...

's Sognsvann Line. It is situated Kringsjå neighborhood of the

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 ...

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 ...

, borough of

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 the former Aker municipality in Akershus county. Demographics and housing With a pop ...

. Located from

Stortinget The Storting ( ; ) 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 based on party-list proportional represe ...

, the station is served by Line 5 of the metro every fifteen minutes. Travel time to Stortinget is sixteen minutes. The station opened on 10 October 1934 at the same times as the rest of the Sognsvann Line. The station received a major upgrade in 1993, in which it received longer platforms. The new station was designed by

Arne Henriksen Arne Henriksen (born 26 February 1944) is a Norwegian architect who has designed many Norwegian railway stations. He worked at NSB Arkitektkontor from 1975 til 1989, and thereafter in private practice. He is a three-time winner of the Houen Fund ...

. The station is located next to and serves the

Norwegian School of Sport Sciences The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (, NIH) is a public university located at Sognsvann in Oslo, Norway. It has the national responsibility for education and research related within sport sciences. It provides education at the Bachelor, Mast ...

and the

National Archives of Norway The National Archives of Norway (''Riksarkivet'') is the institution responsible for preserving archive material from Norway, Norwegian state institutions, as well as contributing to the preservation of private archives. It does this work in cooper ...

, as well as the recreational area around the lake of

Sognsvann Sognsvann (or ''Sognsvannet'') is a 3.3 km circumference lake just north of Oslo, Norway. Lying just within the greenbelt around Oslo, the lake is a popular recreational area, used as a camping, picnicking and bathing destination for the re ...

History

The station was built as the original terminus of the Sognsvann Line. Construction started in 1933 and the station and line opened on 10 October 1934. The area around the station was originally a recreational area around the lake

. At the station there were two cafés, which were demolished in the 1960s to allow for new developments. For decades the station was mostly used to reach recreational areas. The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences took its new campus next to the station into use in 1968, followed by the National Archives in 1978. 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, electric current, current, and frequency to power ...

and installing

automatic train protection Automatic train protection (ATP) is the generic term for train protection systems that continually check that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects ...

. For Sognsvann this also meant that the single track was replaced with a double track. 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 () is a line on the Oslo Metro which runs from Brynseng (station), Brynseng to Mortensrud (station), Mortensrud. It further shares track with the Lambertseter Line along the section from Tøyen (station), Tøyen to Brynseng. ...

Service

The station is served by Line 5 of the Oslo Metro. During regular hours, it operates at a 15-minute headway. Travel time to Stortinget is sixteen minutes. Operations are carried out by

Sporveien T-banen Sporveien T-banen AS is a limited company that is responsible for operating Oslo Metro (), the rapid transit in Oslo, Norway. The company is owned by Sporveien, which is owned by the municipal Oslo. Sporveien operates on a contract with Ruter, ...

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. In 2022, its 3,306 employees transported 217 million passengers. Since 2008 ...

, 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 Muni ...

three- and six-car trains. The station had an average 854 boarding passengers in 2002. Sognsvann is located in fare zone 1.

Facilities

Kringsjå is a rapid transit station situated on the Sognsvann Line, from Stortinget in the city center. It is situated at an elevation of

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. It is open ground station featuring two

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

s. The station meets the metro standard of the Oslo Metro. This includes two side platforms. The station is designed by

and features a small steel and

glued laminated timber Glued laminated timber, commonly referred to as glulam, or sometimes as GLT or GL, is a type of structural engineered wood product constituted by layers of dimensional lumber bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant structural adhesive ...

roof on the one platform. As a terminal station, only the one platform is in regular use. It has a similar design to most of the other stations on the line.

References

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