Eidanger Station () is a disused
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
at
Eidanger
Eidanger is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Porsgrunn Municipality. The administrative centre wa ...
in
Porsgrunn
is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. Located at the intersection of the
Bratsberg Line
The Bratsberg Line () is a railway line between Eidanger and Notodden in Telemark county, Norway. It opened in 1917, connecting the Tinnos Line, the Sørland Line and the Vestfold Line; allowing Norsk Hydro to transport fertilizer from their pl ...
,
Brevik Line and
Vestfold Line
The Vestfold Line () is a railway line which runs between Drammen and Eidanger in Norway. The line connects to the Drammen Line at the northern terminus at Drammen Station and continues as the Bratsberg Line past Skien Station. The line is excl ...
, it is located from
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 ...
. The station buildings were designed by
Balthazar Lange.
The station opened as part of the Vestfold Line on 23 November 1882, with the Brevik Line opening in 1895. From 1916 the Brevik- and Bratsberg Lines received
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
, and Eidanger was used for
transshipment
Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination.
One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g. ...
with the narrow-gauge Vestfold Line. The station's importance diminished with the latter's
gauge conversion
Track gauge conversion is the changing of one railway track gauge (the distance between the running rails) to another. In general, requirements depend on whether the conversion is from a wider gauge to a narrower gauge or vice versa, on how the ...
in 1941. The
commuter train
Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...
service between
Brevik and
Skien
Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...
terminated in 1964, reducing most of the station's traffic. It was closed on 2 March 1987, but remains in use as a
passing loop
A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...
.
History
Eidanger Station was built as part of the Vestfold Line, and opened on 23 November 1882 as part of the second segment, between
Larvik Station and
Skien Station
Skien Station () is a railway station located about one kilometer from downtown Skien in Telemark, Norway.
The station serves as terminus for the regional trains on the Vestfold Line (''Vestfoldbanen'') from Oslo via Vestfold and for the local t ...
. At this time also the section west of the station was regarded as part of the Vestfold Line, which was built with
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...
.
[Bjerke (1994): 162] Plans for a branch from Eidanger to Brevik had been articulated during the construction of the Vestfold Line, but were not approved by
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
until 4 July 1891. The Brevik Line opened on 15 October 1895.
To secure compatibility with the Bratsberg Line, the section of track past Grenland to Eidanger and onwards to Brevik was
converted to
dual gauge
Dual gauge railroad track has three or four rails, allowing vehicles of two track gauges to run on it.
Signalling and sidings are more expensive to install on dual gauge tracks than on two single gauge tracks. Dual gauge is used when there i ...
from 4 December 1916. The dual gauge was removed in on 16 June 1921 and the segment from Eidanger to
Oklungen Station received dual gauge in November.
Because of the
break-of-gauge
With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally canno ...
, Eidanger was used as a site of transshipment between Vestfold Line and the standard gauge lines.
[Jakobsen (1996): 53] An underpass near the station for the main road between Brevik and Porsgrunn was built in 1933.
A dual-gauge system was established between Eidanger and Larvik on 22 June 1940, which remained until 15 February 1941, when only standard gauge was used on the Vestfold Line until Larvik. Eidanger Station was electrified along with the Brevik Line and the Bratsberg Line south of
Borgestad Station on 19 July 1949. The section east of Eidanger on the Vestfold Line was electrified on 15 October 1956.
The line past Eidanger was remote controlled from 20 December 1972. The station was closed for passenger trains on 2 March 1987, although it remained in use as a passing loop.
The station received
automatic train stop
Automatic train stop or ATS is a system on a train that automatically stops a train if certain situations occur (unresponsive train operator, earthquake, disconnected rail, train running over a stop signal, etc.) to prevent accidents. In some scen ...
on 18 July 1990.
Three new underpasses for road traffic were built under the line at the station in 1991. Since 2012 a new
high-speed section of the Vestfold Line is being built between Porsgrunn and
Farriseidet, and thus Eidanger Station will in the future only be located on the Brevik Line. Proposals have called for a bicycle path to be laid on the old section of track, which would see Eidanger as the point of origin.
Facilities
Eidanger was established as a third-class station, but was later upgraded to second class. The station was a standard design created by Balthazar Lange for the Vestfold Line, with the station building measuring on the ground floor. It featured a ticket office, offices for cargo handling and express cargo, and the station master's office. A separate six-room station master's building was also built, along with an outhouse. The station area had seven tracks, including three which went to the engine shed. During the transshipment era there were twenty-two people working at the station.
Eidanger is located from
Oslo West Station
Oslo West Station () or Oslo V, is a former railway station located in Vika in Oslo, Norway. It was the terminus of the Drammen Line between 1872 and 1980, until the Oslo Tunnel opened. The station remained in use until 1989, when all traffic ...
and at an elevation of
above mean sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
.
[Bjerke (1994): 166] The station is aligned such that the Bratsberg Line comes in from the west and the Vestfold and Brevik Line come in from the east. Since the closing a passing loop remains at the station.
Service
The bulk of the services at Eidanger was originally a
commuter train
Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...
which ran to between Brevik and
Skien
Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...
. Until the end of the 1940s the station had between ten and twelve daily round trips, but during the 1950s this increased to as high as nineteen, often running at a fixed hourly
headway
Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise definition varies depending on ...
, following the introduction of electric trains.
[Aspenberg (1994): 156] During the late 1940s and 1950s there was correspondence with a bus to
Arendal
Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...
at Brevik. NSB decided to terminate the commuter trains from 1 February 1964, with the express trains followed suit on 26 May 1968. From then Eidanger Station only saw traffic along the Vestfold Line.
[Sørensen (1995): 71]
References
Bibliography
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{{Vestfold Line
Railway stations on the Bratsberg Line
Railway stations on the Vestfold Line
Railway stations on the Brevik Line
Railway stations in Porsgrunn
Disused railway stations in Norway
Railway stations in Norway opened in 1882
Railway stations in Norway closed in 1987