The Hirtshals railway line () is a long

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 ...

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

between

Hjørring Hjørring () is a town on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Hjørring Municipality in the North Jutland Region. The population is 25,908 (acco ...

and

Hirtshals Hirtshals is a town and seaport on the coast of Skagerrak on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Europe. It is located in Hjørring municipality in Region Nordjylland. The town of Hirtshals has a ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The railway links the

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

ferry port A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

of Hirtshals with the Danish rail network. The railway line opened in 1925. It is currently owned and operated by the

railway company A rail transport company is a company active within the rail industry. It can be: * a manufacturing company, * a rail transport operations, railway undertaking providing services through operating rolling stock, * a railway infrastructure manager ...

Nordjyske Jernbaner Nordjyske Jernbaner (abbreviated NJ) is a Danish railway company operating in Region Nordjylland. The company was formed in 2001 as a merger of Hjørring Privatbaner (HP) and Skagensbanen (SB) and Hirtshalsbanen (HB). Headquartered in Hjørri ...

(NJ) which runs frequent

local train Regional rail is a public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connecting smaller cities a ...

services from Hirtshals station to Hjørring station with onward connections from Hjørring to the rest of Denmark.

History

In 1915, the

Danish Parliament The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

agreed to build a new railway line between and on the Skagen Line with a possible

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

from to . The main line to Ålbæk was never constructed however, but the branch line to Hirtshals was built instead. Construction started in April 1924, and the railway was opened on 18 December the following year. From the start, the railway line was operated together with the Hjørring-Løkken-Aabybro Line and the Hjørring-Hørby Line in the joint operating company Hjørring Privatbaner (HP). In 2001, the operating company Hjørring Privatbaner merged with Skagensbanen to form the railway company

(NJ). Headquartered in

, the company is now responsible for running the Hjørring–Hirtshals and Frederikshavn–Skagen lines. In 2005 the current

Siemens Desiro The Siemens Desiro (, , ) is a family of Diesel multiple unit, diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens, Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, ...

trains, which have a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph), were introduced.

Operations

Local trains

(NJ) runs frequent

services from Hirtshals station to Hjørring station with onward connections from Hjørring to the rest of Denmark.

Express service

An international passenger service, '' Nordpilen'', between Hirtshals and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, connecting with the ferries to and from

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 ...

, ceased many years ago.

Freight

Apart from local passenger traffic, there are transit

freight train A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad ...

s linking

to the European continent. The

freight car Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types ...

s are transferred on the railway ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand.

Stations

* * * * * * * * * * *

Previous stations

* Color Line - between Lilleheden halt and Hirtshals station * Raundrup - between Horne station and Tornby station * Sønderby - between Tornby station and Vidstrup station *

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits n ...

- between Vellingshøj station and Vidstrup station

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Nordjyske Jernbaner
– Danish

operating in

North Jutland Region The North Jutland Region (), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an Regions of Denmark, administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, 2007 Danish municipal refor ...

Nordjyllands Jernbaner
– website with information on railway history in North Jutland *{{in lang, da}
Danske Jernbaner
– website with information on railway history in Denmark Railway lines in Denmark Railway lines opened in 1925 1925 establishments in Denmark Rail transport in the North Jutland Region