 The first engineering surveys for the Flåm Line were performed in 1893 . It resulted in a proposal for a 1 @,@ 067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) narrow gauge railway which would be 18 @.@ 0 kilometers ( 11 @.@ 2 mi ) long . Most of the railway would be built as an adhesion railway with a 2 @.@ 5 percent gradient , although part of it would be a rack railway with a gradient of 10 @.@ 0 percent . It was at the time estimated to cost 3 @.@ 3 million Norwegian krone ( NOK ) . In 1904 , a radically different route to Sognefjord was proposed : a 47 @.@ 13 @-@ kilometer ( 29 @.@ 29 mi ) long adhesion line from Voss to Gudvangen via Stalheim . It was estimated to cost NOK 3 @.@ 5 million , but was considered by local politicians to be inferior to the Flåm alternative . A third alternative was a combined tramway and funicular , which would be built between Myrdal and Fretheim . It was estimated to cost NOK 800 @,@ 000 , but NSB was concerned that the proposal 's light rolling stock would not be sufficient to operate through snow during the winter . Estimated traffic for the Flåm Line was 22 @,@ 000 annual passengers . 
