Nordland Line
The Nordland Line is a railway line between Trondheim and Bodø, Norway. It is the longest in Norway and lacks electrification. The route runs through Trøndelag and Nordland counties, carrying a combination of commuter, long-haul passenger and freight trains. From Trondheim Central Station to Steinkjer Station the line is most heavily used, with hourly services by the Trøndelag Commuter Rail. There are three branch lines—the Stavne–Leangen Line at Leangen Station, the Meråker Line at Hell Station and the Namsos Line at Grong Station.
The section from Trondheim to Hell opened on 22 July 1882. The next section, initially the Hell–Sunnan Line, opened in stages between 1902 and 1905. The line was lengthened to Snåsa Station on 30 October 1926 and then to Grong on 30 November 1929. Construction continued in a slow pace northwards, but was accelerated by the Wehrmacht after the 1940 occupation. The line was built through most of Helgeland and opened in seven stages to Dunderland Station in the next five years. The line then had to be brought up to standards before continuing northwards. It opened to Røkland Station in 1955, to Fauske Station in 1958 and to Bodø Station on 1 February 1962.
Route
Traditionally the Nordland Line was defined as running from Hell to Bodø, but the National Rail Administration has officially classified it as running from Trondheim Central Station to Bodø, a distance of. This makes it the longest railway line in Norway. It is single track, standard gauge, but not electrified. Centralized traffic control is installed south of Mosjøen, with partial automatic train control. GSM-R is installed on the whole line. The Nordland Line is owned and maintained by the Norwegian National Rail Administration.From Trondheim the line runs largely following the Trondheimsfjord to Steinkjer Station, traveling through the districts of Stjørdalen and Innherred. At Hell Station, from Trondheim, the Meråker Line branches off. North of Steinkjer the line follows the east shore of Snåsavatnet until Snåsa Station, passing into the district of Namdal. At Grong Station the line intersects with the Namsos Line. It continues up the valley through an inland route and passes into the district of Helgeland. There it reaches a summit of above sea level at Majavatn Station before descending back to sea level near Mosjøen Station. The line continues along a rugged section often hugging the sides of fjords until Mo i Rana Station.
From Mo the line runs up the Dunderland Valley at a 1.2% gradient. From Dunderland Station the line climbs at a 1.8% gradient for onto the Saltfjellet mountain plateau. It reaches its highest elevation just south of Stødi Station, at above mean sea level, about after passing the Arctic Circle. The line then descends for the next at a 1.8% gradient until reaching almost sea level at Rognan Station, by which time it has reached the district of Salten. The section onward to Finneid Station has steep terrain and the line hugs the mountainside, frequently entering tunnels. From Fauske the line heads west to Bodø Station.
History
Trondheim–Hell
A committee to look into building a railway northwards from Trondheim was established in 1870. The goal was to build a railway which connected to Jämtland, Sweden. Similar investigations were carried out on the Swedish side of the border. An early alternative to build via Verdal was discarded. The line was at first estimated to cost 4.7 million Norwegian krone and the line built with a narrow gauge. Shares in the railway company were offered for sale in 1871, of which NOK 1.2 million was bought by Trondheim Municipality. The Parliament of Norway rejected the line the same year, although it resulted in a local railway committee being established. Legislation to build the line was passed by Parliament on 2 May 1872. The state would receive shares in the company equal to their monetary contribution. In 1873, the Parliament of Sweden voted to build a narrow gauge railway from Torpshammar to the Norwegian border, where it would connect to the Sundsvall–Torpshammar Line.By 1874, Swedish authorities had decided that all railways should be built in standard gauge, and the Parliament of Norway chose to change their configuration to the same gauge in 1874, increasing estimated costs from NOK 4.7 to 8.9 million. In Trondheim, the existing Trondhjem–Støren Line terminated at a station at Kalvskinnet. This was a cul-de-sac station, and to allow the two lines to interconnect, a new station was built at Brattøra, costing NOK 1.4 million.
The river of Stjørdalselva created a barrier just north of Hell, and it would be cheaper to make the line go on the south shore of the river down to Hegra. However, the major population center was located at Stjørdalshalsen, on the north shore of the river. Locally, there were many protests against the line bypassing such a large town, but the cost of the bridge made parliament choose the southern alternative. This gave residents in Stjørdal a considerably longer route to the train, since they had to cross the river to get access to the railway. This decreased the railway's ability to compete with the steam ships and thus the overall profitability of the line.
File:Railway at Muruvik.jpg|thumb|The line following the Trondheimsfjord past Muruvik in 1906
The first blasting was performed during a ceremony in 1875, but the real work did not start until 1876. Construction of the last section into Trondheim, along with the station, did not start until 1878, due to disagreements about the plans. By 1878, tracks were laid from Leangen to the border between Nedre Stjørdal Municipality and Øvre Stjørdal Municipality. On 27 August 1879, the first train ran from Rotvoll Station, just outside Trondheim, to the national border. Before the line was finished in Sweden, the Norwegian State Railways operated a train once per week from 11 February 1880. Full service was introduced on 17 October 1881, though the line was not yet completed to Östersund; nor did Trondheim Central Station open until 1882. The official opening was on 22 July 1882.
The work paid well, and attracted many navvies to the area. Land-owners were compensated NOK 50–200 per hectare for cultivated land, and NOK 10 per hectare for forest. Many local farmers made good money offering transport of cargo for the construction, as well as renting out annexes for navvies; others made money as traders. As with all such construction areas, many legal and illegal pubs and brothels were established. After construction was completed, some moved on, while others settled in the area; many of these received jobs with the railway company.
Hell–Sunnan
In 1872, Ole Tobias Olsen proposed in Morgenbladet that a railway be built between Mo i Rana via Haparanda, Sweden, to Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was inspired by Scottish railways and hoped to use the line to export fresh fish. The engineer succeeded the following year at gaining a public grant to investigate a route to Gulf of Bothnia. Om 1875, Olsen proposed that a railway be built from Trondheim via Steinkjer and Namsos to Vestfjorden. That year, Nord-Trøndelag County Council established a committee to plan a railway from Stjørdal to Namsos, while Nordland County Council established a committee for a continuation of the line to Nordland.On 23 August 1876, the Nord-Trøndelag committee published a report to encourage national authorities to consider the line, which resulted in surveying starting in 1877. On 27 April 1881, the committee made its recommendation to the county council and ceased its work. However, it was not until 1889 that the county council appointed a new railway committee, which was led by Wexelsen. In 1891, the county's road committee, led by Øverland, sent an official request to the railway committee, asking for details about their plans, so the appropriate roads could be planned. This spurred the committees work and a cooperation with Nordland County Council was initiated to increase the projects priority by national politicians. The railway was also regarded as having a strategic importance for the postal service and the military, as transport times northwards would decrease significantly and be less affected by severe weather, which particularly during winter could hinder efficient steam ship transport.
On 2 March 1896, with 87 against 27 votes, Parliament passed legislation approving a railway from Hell to Sunnan. Costs were estimated at 8.75 million Norwegian krone, of which 15 percent was to be financed with local grants and the remainder by the state. Construction was scheduled to take 15 years. The decision initially called for the railway to be built in two stages, with the split at Rinnan in Levanger—the site of the military camp Rinnleiret. Final approval of construction was made by Parliament on 11 June 1898. The choice of route through Innherred was largely without much debate, as the line naturally went through all the towns and most of the important villages. Sunnan was a natural place to halt construction, as it is located at the foot of the lake of Snåsavatnet, allowing connection with steam ships.
Hell Station had to be rebuilt, and the old station building was moved to Sunnan Station. Controversies arose over the location of Skatval Station, Levanger Station, Verdal Station, Sparbu Station, with the initial discarding of Mære Station, and Steinkjer Station. The line through Steinkjer was controversial, as the proposal would split the town in two, and there was an intense debate as to which side of the river the station should be built on. A counter-proposal which saw the line run further up and cross through Steinkjersannan and Furuskogen—and thus avoid the town itself—was discarded because it would wreck the military camp at Steinkjersannan and would be located too far from the port.
Four navvies were killed during construction, three in a landslide in a trench and one by a piling log, all in Levanger. Construction on the line's second part, from Levanger to Sunnan, started in 1901. Part of the reason for the early start was to help employ older navvies who were working on the southern section during the summer. At Røra, a spur was originally planned to Hylla, but this was discarded late in the planning phase. At Hellem in Inderøy the right-of-way had to be moved because of poor soil mechanics. There were similar issues north of the Lunnan Tunnel, forcing the tunnel to be extended and a supporting being built. Steinkjer is surrounded by a moraine which had to be traversed with a cutting, long and up to deep. of earthwork was removed, half with a steam shovel, and largely used to build reclaimed land for the railway's right-of-way through Steinkjer.
The long section from Hell to Stjørdal started revenue service on 1 February 1902. The long section from Stjørdalshalsen to Levanger was officially opened on 27 October 1902, with ordinary services starting on 29 October. The long section from Levanger to Verdal was opened on 1 November 1904, although the station building was not completed until 1905. At the time there were two trains per direction per day, one passenger train and one post train. The official opening of the long section between Verdal and Sunnan took place on 14 November 1905. Revenue service started the following day.