Røros Line

Rørosbanen
Røros Station at Røros
Overview
Owner	Jernbaneverket
Termini	Hamar Støren
Stations	28
Service
Type	Railway
System	Norwegian railway
Operator(s)	Norges Statsbaner
Rolling stock	BM92, BM93
History
Opened	13 October 1877
Technical
Line length	383 kilometres (238 mi)
Character	Regional passenger
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Highest elevation	670 metres (2,198 ft)

Røros Line
Trondheim S Skansen Marienborg Selsbakk Heimdal Melhus Kvål Ler Lundamo Hovin Støren to Dovrebanen Rognes Kotsøy Singsås Langlete Haltdalen Ålen Reitan Glåmos Røros Os Tolga Tynset Auma Alvdal Bellingmo Hanestad Atna Koppang Stai Evenstad Opphus Steinvik Rena Rudstad to Solørbanen Elverum Løten Ilseng Hamar to Dovrebanen

Rørosbanen or Røros Line is a 431 km long railway line in Norway running between the towns of Hamar and Trondheim via Elverum and Røros. It connects at Hamar into the Hovedbane (Main Line) to Oslo while the northernmost part from Støren to Trondheim is officially part of the Dovrebane.

Route

The Rørosbane follows the Østerdal valley, running alongside the River Glomma for much of the way. In terms of the Norwegian railway system the Rørosbane is a secondary route between Oslo and Trondheim, the primary route between those two places being by way of the Dovrebane.

As well as being connected to the Dovrebane, the line also has connections to the Meråkerbane (at Trondheim) and Solørbane (at Elverum). The summit of the line, at Harborg, is 670 metres above sea level – a fairly low elevation for a Norwegian main line. The Rørosbane is Norway's second longest stretch of unelectrified railway, the longest being the Nordlandsbane.

Today, passenger trains on the Rørosbane are operated exclusively by small diesel multiple units of the types BM92 and BM93 operated by Norges Statsbaner

History

The Rørosbane was built between 1862 and 1877, the official opening taking place on 13 October 1877. The route is Norway's oldest mainline railway, defined as one connecting two regions of the country: in this instance eastern and central Norway. Originally constructed as a narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 1067, the line was upgraded to the European standard gauge of 1435 mm between 1917 and 1941.

Åsta Accident

The Åsta accident occurred on January 4 2000, a northbound BM92 multiple unit and a southbound passenger train headed by a Di 3 locomotive collided on the line near Åsta station, killing 19 people. The accident caused a temporary closure of the route while the line's safety was investigated. The Rørosbane being a non-electrified line, the method of cutting the power to trains seen to be on a collision course was not available. Furthermore, the line was not equipped with Automatic Train Control. When the train traffic controller became aware that the trains involved were heading for a collision he tried to send a warning to the train drivers by mobile phone, but the phone numbers were either wrong or did not work. There was controversy in the aftermath about whether the driver of the northbound train had ignored or overlooked a red danger signal or whether the signal system itself was faulty.

Future developments

The Rørosbane competes for traffic with a main road through the Østerdal and some people have called for the permanent closure of the line to save money, arguing that trucks and buses can handle the extra traffic if the line is closed. Other people have opposed such a closure.

There are plans for a completely new high speed railway net in Norway. In 2007, a German university suggested that the high speed Oslo-Trondheim railway should follow the Rørosbanen route. This would be cheaper, as cities along the present main line Dovrebanen are rather small. It would be difficult to achieve a travel time competitve with air travel, even with a 250 km/h cruise speed. See High-speed rail in Norway.

Photographs

• 
  Hamar Station in Hamar is the terminus of Rørosbanen, where the line meets Dovrebanen and Hovedbanen
• 
  At Elverum Station in Elverum the line meets with Solørbanen
• 
  Tynset Station in Tynset

External links

Media related to Rørosbanen at Wikimedia Commons

• Station list at Jernbaneverket Template:No icon