The Jæren Line () was a long railway line between Stavanger and Egersund in Jæren, Norway. The name is no longer in official use and the section is regarded as the westernmost part of the Sørlandet Line. Owned by Bane NOR, the line has double track from Stavanger Station to Sandnes Station, and single track from Sandnes to Egersund Station. The line is electrified at and equipped with centralized traffic control and GSM-R. The line is served by the Jæren Commuter Rail and intercity trains along the Sørlandet Line, both operated by Go-Ahead Norge. CargoNet runs container freight trains on the line, which terminate at Ganddal Freight Terminal.
The line opened as a narrow gauge stand-alone line on 27 February 1878. The railway was extended from Egersund to Flekkefjord as the Flekkefjord Line in 1904. The Jæren Line's only branch, the Ålgård Line from Ganddal to Ålgård, opened in 1924. In 1944, the Sørlandet Line was extended to Sira on the Flekkefjord Line, and the Jæren Line was integrated in the main railway network. Because of this, the line was converted to standard gauge.
Route
The Jæren Line constitutes the section of the Sørlandet Line between Stavanger and Egersund.Bjerke (1994): 194 At the time of the line's opening, it was long,Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009b): 44 but has since the 1950s been long.Bjerke (1994): 195 The railway is double track on the section from Stavanger Station to Sandnes Station, and single track from there to Egersund Station. The line is electrified at Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009b): 4 and equipped with centralized traffic control,Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009b): 37 automatic train stop,Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009b): 40 and GSM-R.Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009b): 42 The railway line is owned and maintained by the Norwegian National Rail Administration, a government agency.Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009b): 3
The zero marker for the line is located at Stavanger Station, which is from Oslo Central Station and located above mean sea level (AMSL).Bjerke (1994): 201 Previously there was a branch just south of the station which ran through a long tunnel before reaching the port. Southwards from Stavanger, the route largely runs along the waterfront, hugging Gandsfjorden. The first station after Stavanger is Paradis Station ( from Stavanger Station). The line runs past the closed Hillevåg Station and a closed spur to an industrial area at Mariero before reaching Mariero Station (). The line continues past the closed Lyngnes Station, a closed spur to Sørbø Trelast and the closed Vaulen Station. After passing the closed Hinna Station and the closed Jåttå Station, which was exclusively used to serve matches and concerts at Viking Stadion, the line immediately afterwards reaches Jåttåvågen Station (), which also serves the stadium and the newly redeveloped area of Jåtten.
The line continues past Gausel Station (), which in addition to serving a redeveloped area serves as a major transfer hub for buses towards Forus and Sola. Next the line passes the closed Forus Station before running through the long Lurahammer Tunnel and passing the closed Luravika Station and Lura Station. Through the town center of Sandnes, the line runs as an elevated railway, which previously also included a branch to the port in Sandnes. Sandnes Sentrum Station () is the main station serving the town. The line continues past Sandnes Station (), which is the end of the double track.
After passing the closed Brualand Station and the open Ganddal Station (), the closed Ålgård Line branches off. Ganddal Freight Terminal is the only freight terminal in Jæren. It has an annual capacity for 80,000 containers and can handle long trains. The next station on the mainline are the closed Skjæveland Station and Orstad Station, followed by the operating Øksnevadporten Station (). South of there lays to spurs, to Øksnevad, Kvarnaland and Block Watne. The line continues past the closed Engjelsvåg Station before reaching Klepp Station (). The line continues past the closed Leland Station and the closed Tumarki Station before having a closed spur to Varheia. After passing the closed Vardheia Station, the line reaches Bryne Station ().
Next the line passes a spur to Hetland and then passes four closed stations, Kjelsholen, Hognestad, Gjerdo and Tårland. After reaching Nærbø Station (), the line continues past the closed Kvia Station and the closed Dysjaland Station before reaching Varhaug Station (). Located at AMSL, it is the highest-elevated station on the line. After passing the closed Odland Station, the line runs past the closed Stavnheim Station and reaches Vigrestad Station (). The line continues past the closed Hogstad Station and the closed Stokkaland Station before reaching Brusand Station (). Afterwards it crosses Vauleelva and then runs through the long Varden Tunnel before passing the closed Varden Station and reaching Ogna Station ().Bjerke (1994): 200
At Ogna there is a distinct change to the landscape, as it changes from a flat to a hilly. Particularly between Bryne and Ogna, the line have a large curve radius, but between Ogna and Egersund this changes to much tighter curvature.Norwegian National Rail Administration (2009a): 31–35 After Ogna the line crosses Ognaelv and runs through the long Sirevåg Tunnel before reaching Sirevåg Station (). The line then runs through two tunnels before passing the closed Vatnamot Station and reaching Hellvik Station (). The line continues through six tunnels, the longest being , before passing the closed Maurholen Station. It then passes through four more tunnels and two bridges before reaching Egersund Station (). At Egersund, the line continues as the Sørlandet Line. Originally the Jæren Line ran to the old station in Egersund, which was kept until 1952 as a branch from Egersund Station. This included bridges over Eieelva and Lundeelva.Bjerke (1994): 202
History
Construction During the 19th century, transport along the Jæren coast was dominated by ship. Some simple roads had been built, but these were insufficient for quick and efficient transport. In the mid-19th century, the roads were improved, and ideas were launched to start a traction engine service along the coast. At an 1866 meeting at the sheriff's office in, Forest Manager Andreas Tanberg Gløersen launched the first idea of building a railway to connect Stavanger and Egersund. Gløersen had been to the Netherlands where he had taken and observed train operations. Later the same year, a meeting was held with representatives from Hå Municipality, Klepp Municipality, and Time Municipality.Jubileumskomitéen Sørlandsbanen Vest (1994): 6
The meeting concluded that a railway should be built, and the responsibility for the preparatory work was given to County Governor Vilhelm Ludvig Herman von Munthe af Morgenstierne. He started by conducting traffic counting throughout the district. This resulted in an estimate for a revenue of NOK 215,000 and a cost of NOK 153,000 per year.Jubileumskomitéen Sørlandsbanen Vest (1994): 7 Originally the proposal was to connect the various villages in Jæren together. But during planning, national authorities stated that the line would be part of a trans-national railway that would connect Rogaland to Eastern Norway. This resulted in the railway being planned with a straighter profile and running via fewer communities.Jubileumskomitéen Sørlandsbanen Vest (1994): 8
The proposal was sent to the Ministry of the Interior, who recommended the line and presented it to Parliament on 6 May 1874.Bergsgård (1964): 208 Parliament passed legislation to build the line on 3 June 1874. During the celebrations in Stavanger that evening, a gunner lost his hand following the explosion of a cannon. Particularly in Sandnes the choice of route resulted in much debate. Parliament had in its proposal for the line stipulated that the railway should have good port access in Sandnes.Eggebø (1996): 28 The "Blue Line" proposal ran along the waterfront, but would require two different stations in Sandnes. The "Red Line" proposal ran midway through the town center, splitting it in two. However, it gave only a single station, and was eventually chosen, after the municipal council initially had supported the Blue Line.Eggebø (1996): 29
Construction started in October 1874 on the section between Forus and Gausel. Tracks were shipped to Norestraen, which was the southernmost docks which were sufficiently deep to allow the ships. When the railway was passed, the country was experiencing good times, but through the 1870s, the country fell into harder times. This caused a reduction in spending on the line, which was particularly in investments in stations. A standardized, small station building was chosen and in Egersund an existing house was bought.Hartmann (1997): 54 The line opened on 27 February 1878, and was at the time of opening long. When the line opened, it had no tunnels and only twelve stations. Already the following year, additional stations were opened in Sirevåg, Brusand, and Hognestad. Hillevåg opened in 1880 and Mariero opened in the 1880s.
Branches and gauge conversion
On 5 February 1875, the parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways published a report recommending that there be built four trans-national railways to connect western and central Norway to eastern Norway. The Sørlandet Line was part of this plan, and was scheduled to be built between 1876 and 1888.Jubileumskomitéen Sørlandsbanen Vest (1994): 9 The line was proposed to be built via the Vestfold Line to Skien and onwards along the south coast before connecting with the Jæren Line at Egersund. However, Norway was hit by the Depression of 1882–85, which reduced railway construction to a minimum. In addition, controversy arose over which route should be chosen through Agder: along the populated coast or through the sparsely populated interior. This issue kept the line at bay, and not until 1908 was a decision made in favor of the interior route.Jubileumskomitéen Sørlandsbanen Vest (1994): 10
In 1894, the Railway Committee recommended parliament to prioritize three new lines, the Bergen Line, the Rauma Line and the Gjøvik Line. However, this met protests from representatives from Agder, and it became clear that there would not be a majority to build the Bergen Line unless part of the Sørlandet Line was built. Jørgen Løvland proposed a compromise in which the Flekkefjord Line be built from Egersund to Flekkefjord, as the first part of the Sørlandet Line, as well as the Treungen Line. The Flekkefjord Line opened on 31 October 1904.Jubileumskomitéen Sørlandsbanen Vest (1994): 11 The same year, stations were opened at Forus and Gausel.
The Ålgård Line was originally launched as an alternative route for the Sørlandet Line. In 1910, a committee was appointed to conduct preliminary planning. Although NSB's board supported the line, construction was placed on hold. In 1919, local politicians proposed that the line be built administratively as part of the Jæren Line, but this was rejected by the government.Thime (1999): 8 Instead, the ministry wanted to again consider the Ålgård Line as part of the Sørlandet Line, and proposed that the Ålgård Line be built with standard gauge—which would be used for the Sørlandet Line—instead of the narrow gauge used by the Jæren Line. However, there would be no need for standard gauge until the Sørlandet Line was extended to Rogaland, so the line was planned to be built with narrow gauge track, but all other installations would be prepared for standard gauge.Thime (1999): 9 The first train to operate on the line went from Stavanger on 20 December 1924,Thime (1999): 13 and the Ålgård Line became the last state-owned railway in Norway to be opened with narrow gauge.Aspenberg (1994): 227 Not until 1930 was a branch built from the railway station in Sandnes to the port.