The Strømsveien tram fire (''Trikkebrannen i Strømsveien'') was a railway accident resulting from a fire erupting in an

Oslo Tramway The Oslo tram network ( no, Trikken i Oslo, short from ', 'electric') is the tram system in Oslo, Norway. It consists of six lines with 99 stops and has a daily ridership of 132,000. It is operated by , a subsidiary of the municipally-owned who ...

car traveling on Strømsveien street in

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 ...

. On 2 August 1958, a set of two cars, 194 and 198, of the

Gullfisk Class B and Class E, normally referred to as ''Gullfisk'' ( Norwegian for "goldfish"), were a class of 46 trams built by Strømmens Værksted and Skabo Jernbanevognfabrikk for Oslo Sporveier and Bærumsbanen of Oslo, Norway, in 1937 and 1939. Th ...

type was traveling the

Lilleaker Line The Lilleaker Line ( no, Lilleakerbanen) is a suburban tramway from Skøyen in Oslo westwards to Jar, Bærum in Norway. It is operated by Line 13 from Ljabru to Bekkestua of the Oslo Tramway, operated by Oslo Sporvognsdrift. The line continues o ...

('' Lilleakerbanenen'') –

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 ...

(''Østensjøbanen'') route from Bøler to Jar. This connection was opened in 1937 and the Gullfisk cars introduced in 1939. As the tram braked as it approached Totengata a technical malfunction caused arcing and a fire erupted in the front of car 198 which was the latter car. The exit door, being operated by the tram driver who was seated in the lead car, remained closed for a few, critical seconds as passengers were struck by panic. The disaster claimed the lives of five people; seventeen were injured. Following the disaster, fire extinguishers, better emergency exits and emergency door openers became mandatory in all public transport.

References

59°54'32.7"N 10°47'17.6"E Railway accidents and incidents in Norway Fires in Norway Train and subway fires Railway accidents in 1958 1958 in Norway 1958 fires in Europe Tram accidents August 1958 events in Europe {{norway-hist-stub