Flam railway

[selma]

Hopefully you guys can help me out a bit more! I'm cruising Norway in June and one of the ports is Flam. After seeing the railroad in a tv-special I'm really hopign to be able to do it myself.

 

I'll be cruising solo and use a powerchair. Contacted HAL first, but basically they just go "no accessible options". Thing is I'm wondering how realistic their response is, knowing they go by form where it is simply "yes" or "no" if you can do A, B, or C. Result? They reason things like "oh fulltime powerchair user, so railroad is not an option as you have to walk a small distance from ship to station and you can't walk". Ehm...... hello? Indeed I can't walk, but a powerchair is there to make one mobile again and drive what others would walk, duhuh. ;) From pics I've seen there is no reason in the walkway not to be able to drive by powerchair.

 

So I contacted Flamsbana themselves. Answer; yes accessible, you can do it, but only Flam and Myrdal stations are accessible and intermittend ones aren't. OK, great! But it does not really answer how they view that accessibility. I'm getting conflicting info where one says gap between platform and train and need collapsable wheelchair to get into wheelchair accessible part of train, other sounds are; no problem to get on train as a powerchairuser.

 

Who has actually done this with a powerchair? Doable? Not doable?

 

 

 

Second, if indeed doable (cross fingers) what about tickets? Buying through HAL seems stupid. I know I can order directly online with Flamsbana, but that would be taking a risk since Flam is a tender port and if weather is bad, we all know no tendering. How big of a risk would it be to wait until the day before buying tickets?

[PennyAgain]

The train sells out whenever ships are in Flam so whatever you do, don't plan on a last minute purchase.

 

http://www.visitflam.com/ This website is in English and has a Contact us form you can fill in. Ask your questions. Explain with good details including toilet facility questions about the train.

[selma]

Hi Penny,

 

thanks for thinking along! That is actually the website I went through and was very detailed in my question about how boarding is done etc. Bathroom is of no big importance for me, thanks to a cathable urinostomy, but obviously boarding is kinda important. ;) Response that triggered was nothing more or less than;

 

Hi,The Flam railway is wheelchair accessible at the Flam station and the Myrdal station, however intermittent stations are not wheelchair accessible. For further information about activities not related to the Flam railway, we recommend contacting the Aurland and Lærdal tourist information at info@alr.no Med vennlig hilsen - Best regards

 

Yeah, ok. Still leaves one wondering whether it being an option for all of us using wheelchairs or for instance just those that can make the step and get a chair on board manually, whether nor not needing to put anything in place beforehand (for instance, with our national railroad company you can use the train with a powerchair at certain stations but would need to request assistance >24 hours prior so they have an assistant with entry plate waiting for you so you can board).

 

Did fire of some repeat questions about these details, but figured it might be a whole lot easier to get info on here if somebody has done this before with a powerchair.

[daju22]

Hi Selma,

I'm researching the same type of accessibility questions. I searched Cruise Critic. Here are some answers I've copied and pasted into my file. We have a scooter and would like to ride the train up and back. My husband can walk, but not far. We'll probably buy the tickets from the ship and if the sea conditions are too rough to tender, they will give us our money back (I hope...another thing I'll have to check on) These are some posts I've saved:

 

Flam, with a population of about 500, is nestled in a tributary of the world's longest and deepest fjord. It is 128 miles long and has a maximum depth of 4,291 feet. On the question of how deep are these fjords, local say: “A mermaid could swim all the way to China.” The chief attraction here is the 68-year-old Flam Railway. It is widely known as one of the world's best railroad journeys. It includes twenty tunnels and eight stops as it goes up the mountain. This rail lines rises from Flam’s gingerbread rail station going up 2,835 feet to Myrdal and this "Roof of Norway" rail station. Railroad website: www.flaamsbana.no/eng.

We plan to do the flam railway by ourselves by getting off the ship as soon as it docks and taking the first train at 8.35 am. Do they accept Credit Cards when paying for your ticket? This will help us decide how much local currency to take.

Also the end of the line is Myrdal. Is it worth hanging around here or should we get the next train straight back to Flam. What is there to do up there? The return train from Myrdal is at 9.39 am after arriving at 9.27. The next one is at 10.55 am.

 

Yes, the Flåmsbana should be able to accept foreign credit cards.

I don't really think there's much to do in Myrdal. From its general appearance, it really just seems like a small train junction to move people from the regional Oslo-Bergen rail line to the Flåm train. I've never heard of anyone hanging around much longer than they have to. You might be able to find some walking paths, and if you have plenty of time and are very ambitious, I've heard of people hiking back down to Flåm (if your ship is in port long enough). Personally, I think you would be better off taking the first return train back down to Flåm.

Back in Flåm there's a small museum about the train and some souvenir shops. You can also pick up a free walking map from the tourist office by the pier. It has various routes marked from easy strolls through town to some more strenuous hikes back up into the hills.

I can't recall the wheelchair accessibility but there is only one station in Flaam and the train goes back down with no need to get off. There is a stop for the falls, left side up. You should be able to see from window open it to hear the music (really quite nice music as the witches/spirits whatever pop up from among the rocks)

Just send an e-mail and ask:

flaamsbana@visitflam.com

Originally Posted by uppitycats

Do any of you know if the train is accessible to someone in a wheelchair? Which is the best station to get on. I'd likely stay on and simply return.

Since I have not got an answer either I called them today:

There is a car on each train with a compartment with no seats on both sides. So wheelchairs can move around to see both sides of the train.

A manual-operated ramp-lift is available and the train crew will help to get you into the car.

Hope that this information is helpful for your plannings.

Regards,

HeinBloed

•Can I pay for Flåm railway tickets with foreign currency?

No, Unfortunately, we only accept Norwegian kroner and credit cards.

•Is there seat reservation?

No, there is no reservation.

•Is it possible to bring a wheelchair on the train?

Yes, the train has a designated area for wheelchairs.

 

I hope someone can add to this information. :)

[selma]

Daja, I could about kiss you ;)

 

The info you found with the search by Heinbloed sounds very very promising!

 

I will get further into this now with HAL acc. to see if we can get this totally cleared out. Ideally would be to book through them if it would cover risk of not getting ashore if tendering is an option for general public but not to those of us using a mobility aid due to weather. That was a very specific answer I asked HAL but since they just went "no not accessible, done" did not get an answer to that. If I do, I'll make sure to get back with that in case it might help anybody else.

[daju22]

Glad the information helps. I don't have any personal experience, but if you google Rotterdam tenders you'll see a picture of the ship with a tender alongside. There are stairs to climb down and back up to and from the tender. Don't know if they'll carry the chair with you in it. That may be the problem.

 

Then I found this pdf that says that the Rotterdam has wheelchair accessible tenders. http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/news/SpecialNeedsTravel_FactSheet.pdfHow did the other ships you have tendered with handle your chair?

 

Does Holland have a special needs department?

 

Please return and let us know what you have learned about this voyage. I'm not cruising Norway until next year. What are your other ports?

 

Thanks for the about kiss! :)

[PennyAgain]

Selma, during my time in Flam I will admit that I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to the accessibility of the train. Wasn't an issue for me at that time.

 

I would send another email when it is not a weekend with the hope of getting a more knowledgeable person to make a reply. I checked out accessible travel information for Norway with the idea of finding out what they call a motorized wheel chair and other related terms. Didn't really strike gold on that idea

 

Here is an active thread on CC about the Flam port call on the Rotterdam. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1824145 Perhaps you can do some hunting on this thread.

 

Wich I could do more!

[LondonTowner]

My partner and I did a Norway cruise in the summer of 2011 and we stopped in Flam. The ship docked about 200metres flat walk from the Flam railway station. I had taken a manual wheelchair and we took this with us to go onto the railway. I had checked out how many shps would be in port the day we were ther. Fortunately, it was only ours. I then looked up to see the time of the ship's excursion on the railway, which was about 9am.

 

So, we decided to catch the train around 11am. We went to the station, bought the ticket without any problem as most people in Norway speak excellent English. We then proceeded to board the train which was waiting in the station. The train guard saw i was in a wheelchair and insisted on getting out a ramp so I could board easily in the wheelchair and seated me in a wheelchair space on the train. He could not have been more helpful and this was all without asking for any assistance.

 

I can actually walk, so decided to move to a different seat. However, I am sur if you ask for and need assistance there will be no problem at all. It was an awful lot cheaper doing it on our own rather than on the ship's tour.

[daju22]

Sorry, when I copied and pasted the accessible Holland America pdf it included a word and didn't work. Here's the correct url:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/news/SpecialNeedsTravel_FactSheet.pdf

[daju22]

Penny...thanks for the Norway thread. Found some useful tidbits to copy and save for our trip. Good to know there's a little area to walk to in case we can't use the train.

[daju22]

My partner and I did a Norway cruise in the summer of 2011 and we stopped in Flam. The ship docked about 200metres flat walk from the Flam railway station. I had taken a manual wheelchair and we took this with us to go onto the railway. I had checked out how many shps would be in port the day we were ther. Fortunately, it was only ours. I then looked up to see the time of the ship's excursion on the railway, which was about 9am.

 

So, we decided to catch the train around 11am. We went to the station, bought the ticket without any problem as most people in Norway speak excellent English. We then proceeded to board the train which was waiting in the station. The train guard saw i was in a wheelchair and insisted on getting out a ramp so I could board easily in the wheelchair and seated me in a wheelchair space on the train. He could not have been more helpful and this was all without asking for any assistance.

 

I can actually walk, so decided to move to a different seat. However, I am sur if you ask for and need assistance there will be no problem at all. It was an awful lot cheaper doing it on our own rather than on the ship's tour.

 

Thanks, LondonTowner for this info. Copied and saved. Our cruise itinerary says it's a tender port, so hopefully we can tender.

[selma]

LondonTowner; that sounds exactly like Daju has found and like the situation I'm used to at home, but a lot more friendly and without needing to reserve assistance. Woohoo. :) For our cruise there will be 2 ships in port, I've read on our roll call, so I'm highly considering booking a ticket beforehand.

 

 

Daju; HAL is one line that as you've found has some accessible tenders. Weather is a BIG factor obviously, but if all is calm and safe enough, they can handle those not able to transfer, powerchairs etc. One of the big reasons I went with HAL on this one. Before HAL only cruise Disney and only did ports (happened to work out that way) were no tender so no first hand experience. I know of a friend who cruised with HAL in Norway and I've cruised with before that she was rather enthousiastic about HAL's tender. I'll definately probe here some more, but if all works out right tendering is at least an option.

 

HAL does have a special needs department, and a seperate special needs tour department (or just contactinfo and reps, who knows or cares?). Mailed them again yesterday and again swift reply. Have to say they are nice and detailed but it still comes across as a bit thinking in terms of what can not be done. Not an option to book through them, period. Reasons? You need to walk from ship to station (one would think this isn't some mistake one would make dealing with special needs and reading powerchair, knowing the short distance in between) and you ticked the box "can not walk steps in or out of a coach". Second; combined tour and hotel is not perfectly accessible. No option of being content just doing the train ride, tours are only bookable if they can babysit you 24/7 and me being perfectly content with doing the train and be done with it is a no-no.

 

Oh and funny; you need to take steps into and out of train, gap in between train and station. Exact same repeat, never mind me explaining finding info from you guys and spelling out the details and being told by Flaamsbana no biggie and accessible. Yeah it is accessible, indeed. But there is gap.

 

A shame, but guess that just means I'll be not booking through the cruiseline and doing it myself. After seeing a tv-special about the train ride (had a series on tv earlier in the year about HAL cruises, including a 7 day Norwegian one) it is on my bucketlist. It's doable, so by no means am I about to not even attempt it. I'll be checking with my travelinsurance how my coverage is in case I would find not being able to tender. Couldn't hurt to check, who knows if it might be covered given how extensive this insurance is.

 

Other ports include Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Alesund, Skjolden and Eidfjord. Combined with 4 scenic cruising of fjords. If there is anything you want me to keep an eye open for in any of the ports, by all means let me know. I'm not all that very active anymore because of health, but one can always keep an eye open when doing something or pottering about a specific port anyway.

[selma]

By the way, shouldn't you still be sleeping at this time of day? ;)

[daju22]

By the way, shouldn't you still be sleeping at this time of day? ;)

 

Et tu, Selma! I'm an earlybird kind of girl. 5 AM is best time of day!

 

I'll let you know if I have any questions about the ports. Just started my research for the cruise next June.

Judy

[selma]

Et tu, Selma! I'm an earlybird kind of girl. 5 AM is best time of day!

 

I'll let you know if I have any questions about the ports. Just started my research for the cruise next June.

Judy

 

Grin, I'm very much NOT and earlybird. Never been and only became worse when health declined. I'm Dutch, so for me this is an acceptable time. :D

[daju22]

Grin, I'm very much NOT and earlybird. Never been and only became worse when health declined. I'm Dutch, so for me this is an acceptable time. :D

 

So it is 1:18 PM in the Netherlands and you have just woken up?;)

 

Good luck with your Flam trip. Please tell me how it went when you return.

[selma]

Yep, it's 1.30 1 pm. Not just woken up, aren't that bad and besides had to be up anyway as one of my aids is here now doing some of the housework. I'm not that shabby with waking up around 8 or 9 am usually, but with the help needed and some medical stuff, I'm lucky if I can get on with my daily activities an hour or 3 after waking up. So yeah, that quickly makes it noon before anything other then just getting dressed etc gets done.

 

That'll be an early early morning for me in Flam to catch the train. ;) Worth it though! If I don't forget I'll definately be back with a report and pictures of how things went and as many access. pics as possible. If taking to long, by all means help me remind of it by posting or sending private message (got notification on in this topic, so am reminded that way when a new post shows up)

[daju22]

Thanks Selma. I'll remind you. Have a wonderful and accessible cruise!!! :D

Judy

[PennyAgain]

I know Stavanger fairly well. The ship I was on docked away from the main harbor area and we had a tender into the visitor area of the waterfront. I can't predict what ships will do regular docking. From the visitor area of the waterfront, it is uphill in all directions with the streets being very, very steep.

 

Stavanger is an industrial town with much emphasis on the oil and natural gar industry. At the time of my visit I was a very good walker, hill climber and hiker but still found some of the streets so steep it was hard going.

 

I would look into organized tours for most of the ports in Norway. May or may not work for you but I can't see you rolling up and down those hills.

 

Even if you never left the ship in any of the ports in Norway, the scenery is so fantastic it would still be a very good trip and investment of time and money. I didn't do an organized activity in every port and sometimes just sat on a bench and watched what was going on.

[daju22]

I know Stavanger fairly well. The ship I was on docked away from the main harbor area and we had a tender into the visitor area of the waterfront. I can't predict what ships will do regular docking. From the visitor area of the waterfront, it is uphill in all directions with the streets being very, very steep.

 

Stavanger is an industrial town with much emphasis on the oil and natural gar industry. At the time of my visit I was a very good walker, hill climber and hiker but still found some of the streets so steep it was hard going.

 

I would look into organized tours for most of the ports in Norway. May or may not work for you but I can't see you rolling up and down those hills.

 

Even if you never left the ship in any of the ports in Norway, the scenery is so fantastic it would still be a very good trip and investment of time and money. I didn't do an organized activity in every port and sometimes just sat on a bench and watched what was going on.

 

Thanks, Penny, we are also visiting Stavanger. Good to know that we should tour here. It's our last Norway port before disembarkation. But sitting and enjoying the scenery is always a nice thing to do.

Judy

[PennyAgain]

Thanks, Penny, we are also visiting Stavanger. Good to know that we should tour here. It's our last Norway port before disembarkation. But sitting and enjoying the scenery is always a nice thing to do.

Judy

 

Thanks Judy,

 

I had my own things to do in Stavanger but as mentioned above, I was very fit at that time. Uphill, downhill all OK. Fit as I was I remember having a feeling of nearly tipping over a few times. Didn't but just felt that way. I was on a shopping expedition to buy some Norwegian silver fish knives and forks. Long story about that...... did find what I wanted and had fun on the hunt.

 

I had mostly good weather in Norway and one day got sunburned. Everything was very, very expensive at that time. Not sure how it goes now.

[Chunky2219]

Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush, didn't have time to read every word of the thread so far, but I hope the following tells you something useful about Flam and Norway in general:

The Flamsbana should be okay witha powerchair unless it is VERY large. They load with a ramp at the back of the train. I wish I'd know that before we went, I was told there was no access.

 

Don't plan on wandering to the office and buying a ticket if you want to be certain. Quite a queue builds up. But you can advance book. The queue disappeared late morning when we were there, but this would be cutting it fine for the return trip.

 

Flam is a mooring port, so long as there is ony one ship. If two turn up, one of them has to tender. So it's a good idea to check on the port schedule and plan accordingly.

 

Saying that, HAL is one of the only lines that have powerchair accesible tenders, but I don't know if this applies to all ships. So once again, check up otherwise you might be marooned on ship with a useless train ticket in your hand.

 

Of the other Norweigan ports, Gerainger and Andelsnas are also tender ports. The former is beautiful, the latter is so-so but also has a railway station where you can get on a train to somewhere more interesting. Not sure about powerchairs though, so it's worth investigating.

 

Stavanger is very chair accesible and if you fancy doing the boat tour to Pulpit Rock you can just wheel down the quay about 200 yards and board by ramp for a lot less than the price of an official ships tour.

 

Bergen is also very accessible. If you fancy a trip up the funicular railway to see things from high up then wheelchair access is excellent but get there early. After about 10am quite a long queue builds up at the bottom and it gets so busy at the top you can't get a decent picture. The fish market was my personal favourite.

 

Proper, chair accessible tours (as opposed to going on the coach and sticking your chair underneath) tend to be thin on the ground in Norway, which is a shame because the scenerey up in the mountains is magnificent. You might like to think about organising something private in advance for the scenic destinations.

 

The best, money no object tour, assuming you can transfer out of a chair, was at Olden. Two guys on the quayside were offering helicopter rides over the galcier. I was keen but DW wasn't. Maybe next time.

 

Alesund is okayish in a chair, but some of the drop kerbs (or abscence thereof) were very frustrating. There is an inexpensive "noddy" train which runs to the viewing point at the top of the mountain and IIRC it had a drop down ramp to get a chair into the last carriage.

Enjoy Norway, it's terrific, the only cruise we've done twice.

.

.

.

[daju22]

Thanks Chunky! I'm copying and pasting the info. Next year is our Norway cruise. Sounds wonderful.

Judy

[Slugsta]

Several people have mentioned buying tickets for the train ahead of time. However, according to the official website, this is not possible for individuals, only groups. If anyone knows otherwise, particularly if you have a link to where I can buy, I would be very grateful to know.

[selma]

Slugsta; ACP is where I went. As a not group of >10 you can not do seat booking, but can get a ticket and they do ship them to your home adress.

 

I'm back. As posted in my general review; did end up not doing Flam. Changes resulted in us not docking as scheduled at first. Did have a lot of accessible options, but the Rotterdam tender was not one for me (was for quite a group of those with mobility challanges on board though). It happens, guess I'll just have to go back. ;)

 

The other ports? Missed Eidfjord due to an accident. Did the others. Ended up doing a HAL excursion in Stavanger, the Lysefjord cruise. VERY much worth it. What an amazing fjord and cruising through it with your cruiseship does not do it justice as do these tours where you get so close up. So accessible, I ended up doing it lying down (directly correlated to this departure time not being sold out). HAL did have multiple other accessible excursion options for me. They even blocked them for me (knowing some would sell out before getting info from operator that indeed a bus with lift was secured). Direct result of the shore desk manager calling and mailing each and every operator for me and really hunting options down. Paid off.

 

Ended up doing rest of the ports myself. Oslo; very well doable with Hoho bus which is accessible for 1 chair per bus. They do oversell though, so do not run the risk of cutting it close and than running into overly full busses. Very lovely city. Statue garden; must do for artlovers. Don't worry about all those stairs (no handrails, for those of whom want to know). The park has asphalt pathways on both sides that get you up there and behind it all. Small "detour", but so lovely quite, and instead of all those tourists (like yourself) you'll find yourself inside of Oslo's daily life.

 

Kristiansand; LOVE it! The many groups of elderly in wheelchairs and with walkers sitting everywhere shoreside is very telling about accessibility IMHO. Beach also accessible, playground at the beach is accessible etc. Do look around when not seeing your options, sometimes you need to move around a bit for a ramp but it is there where there are stairs. Does have one very steep bridge which might be a problem for some of you who selfpropel. My powerchair had no problems with it at all. Toured city myself.

 

 

Bergen; does it ever not rain? Toured some myself, cut it short though. But again very accessible incl. shops and fitting rooms.

 

Alesund; lovely place again. Church is accessible through side door but very tight turn which might be a problem for some chairs. Very very friendly pastor. Turned out there was a concert in there the day we were in port, unf. not have the ability to see. They have info in multiple languages about the churches story. Yes some very steep roads, but always a less steep option around. Did it on my own

 

Skjolden; sigh, what a lovely place. Again did it on my own. My chair is pretty powerfull perhaps (permobil c500), but apart from battery happening to die on me I got around perfectly. Heck, even got around up and down with said problematic battery (normal range of 40 km went to 5 km max and power dying down after 4). Very worth it to get out, even on your own. The further out the more amazing the nature gets. And most people do not walk that far, so very peacefull experience. Oh and for those wondering; with free "crew" open wifi in the terminal.

 

Eidfjord; very much looking forward to after been to guide lecture and talking it over with shore excursions, but no such luck as said. Did look even better than Skjolden.

 

I'm sure I'll be forgetting something, so if there is anything someone is wondering about by all means ask. Norway is a lovely country. Also very accessible imho and in general a very accomodating community. A must see.