Gary Simonson (85): – 14 hours by train:

– I’m so tired now, I got to my son’s house at 4 last night, actor Gary Simonson (85) tells Talkblade on Saturday morning.

Simonsen was one of several hundred train passengers stranded for hours when the Bergen railway was brought to a complete halt yesterday as a result of a broken cable.

– I sat on the train for 14 hours – the actor says that when you are older you become very stiff and stiff and sit on the same bench for a long time.

She should have departed Oslo at 12.03 and arrived in Bergen at 19.06. It didn’t work that way; The train is left at Mjølfjell station between Myrtle and Voss.

Feel sorry for the staff

Simonson describes that there was a lot of confusion about what was actually happening at any given time.

– poor people who had to fly around and deliver messages – every ten minutes there was a new one: first we had to go down and change trains, then we were driven to Flam, then we had to go back from Flam. she says.

The actor insists that the staff are very pleasant – but when night falls he runs into an unexpected and unpleasant problem:

– Not getting a glass of white wine was really annoying, it would have been nice if you had been sitting for hours. I went to the counter but was told no service after twelve.

On the other hand, all passengers were given a chocolate bar at some point, he says.

Finally, an auxiliary engine arrived and managed to pull the train through the tunnel with the broken cable. The train then proceeded to Bergen, where it arrived last night with exhausted passengers and crew.

– A lot of people had to get a taxi at the same time – it was very tiring, says Simonson.

captured situation

– How was the atmosphere on board?

– It was absolutely impressive – I have never seen such polite staff, I thought. I’m very temperamental, but damn dad: “That’s life” everyone took it easy.

There were many families with children on board.

– I think some of them managed to sleep – I can’t.

Coronafast: – got a shock

On the train in the opposite direction, along with other Language Council director Åse Wetås, passengers had to use cardboard toilets. When Simonson left, it wasn’t so bad.

– She says the toilet worked perfectly.

Simonsen often takes Bergensbanen to see family in Bergen and because of acting assignments. She had never experienced anything like this before.

– In the past, the top stopped for half an hour, says the 85-year-old.

Uncertain income

The actress insists she was initially a strong supporter of taking the train – but is now weighing the pros and cons of whether to use a return ticket.

– I always protected the train. Very comfortable when done right; I sit and read and solve crosswords. Now I don’t know, something is happening.

It was only at 10am today that Bergensbanen was reopened to normal traffic.

Gaja Rinning Moen, Vy’s press officer, explains why the service on board was poor.

– Moen tells Talkblade that the train was without electricity yesterday, and then there was plenty of food they couldn’t cook, and fewer concessions than a normal trip over the mountain.

He says such long and extensive stoppages present challenges for conductors when it comes to keeping passengers informed about what’s going on.

– A challenge for them is that they don’t know how long it will take; It’s stupid to be on the offer side, then it takes seven hours. But you should be more accessible by train, says the press officer.

The train hit the goods placed on the tracks

Assessment

Moe says Vy is in regular contact with Ban Nor, which operates the railways, about the matter.

– We will certainly evaluate after what happened, and we hope that this will not happen too much in the future, he says.

Ban Nor’s press officer Østein Stavdal Paulsen explains that the catenary fell and was dragged by the train.

– Why did it take so long to fix the problem?

– It happened in a remote place. Additionally, large sections of the cable were damaged and repairs took time.

– How do you make sure something like this doesn’t happen again?

– We evaluate each incident and make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again, says Paulson.