The Valdres Line () was a Norwegian railway that connected to the

Gjøvik Line The Gjøvik Line () is a Norwegian railway line between Oslo and Gjøvik. It was originally named the North Line (''Nordbanen'') and ran between Grefsen and Røykenvik. The line was completed to Gjøvik in 1902. The Gjøvik Line was one of t ...

Eina Eina is a village in Vestre Toten Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the Gjøvikbanen railway line, between the villages of Jaren and Raufoss. The village of Eina is located south of the municipal centre of R ...

with

Fagernes is a town in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the largest urban/commercial centre for the Valdres region. It is located just northwest of the village of ...

in the district of

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre S ...

. The first stretch opened on 23 November 1902, and the entire route was operational on October 10, 1906. The line was shut down for regular traffic as of 1 January 1989. The entire length of the line was . It connected the rural areas of

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

and Valdres by rail to the main railroad network in Norway, including

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and international points beyond. Though there is no regular traffic on the line the stretch from Eina to Dokka is still permitted for trains and considered part of the national rail network.

History

The line was built by a private company, AS Valdresbanen, in four phases: #

Dokka Dokka is the administrative centre of Nordre Land Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located at the confluence of the rivers Dokka and Etna, about north of the lake Randsfjorden, the fourth largest lake in Norway. The v ...

(approximately 47 km): regular traffic 28 November 1902 # Dokka to Tonsåsen (31 km): 1 November 1903 # Tonsåsen to

Aurdal Aurdal is a village in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the European route E16 highway about to the northwest of the village of Bagn (in Sør-Aurdal) and about to the southeast of the town o ...

(18 km): 29 September 1906 # Aurdal to

(13 km): 29 September 1906 In 1937, the Norwegian government through the

Norwegian State Railways Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...

took over operations of the line, and in 1953 the line and equipment was modernized to the point that the trip from Oslo to Fagernes took 4.5 hours. In 1955 and 1956 tunnels were built at Høgberget and Tonsåsen, respectively. When Norwegian authorities decided to electrify half of the line distance of Norway in the 1950s and 60s, the Valdres Line was not chosen to be electrified, even though the Gjøvik Line was. In 1985, a bus service was established between Oslo and Fagernes, reducing the number of annual passengers on the train line by 19,000. In 1988, the Norwegian legislature decided to shut down regular traffic on the Valdres Line while keeping the tracks between Eina and Leira open for purposes of national security. In 1989, a grassroots movement was started to keep the line, but to no avail. In 1991, the tracks between Leira and Fagernes were lifted (removed). A private company is formed to arrange chartered trips on the remaining railway.

External links

Valdres Line advocacy organization
{{Coord, 60, 49, 57, N, 10, 04, 21, E, region:NO-05_type:landmark_source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Railway lines in Norway Heritage railways in Norway Railway lines in Innlandet Railway lines opened in 1902 1902 establishments in Norway Private railway lines in Norway