Норвегия темір жолы: Раума желісі

Norwegian railway

The Rauma Line (Raumabanen) is a long railway between the town of Åndalsnes (in Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county), and the village of Dombås (in Dovre Municipality in Innlandet county), in Norway. Running down the Romsdalen valley, the line opened between 1921 and 1924 as a branch of the Dovre Line, which connects to the cities of Oslo and Trondheim. Originally intended as the first stage to connect Ålesund, and possibly also Molde and Kristiansund, no extensions have ever been realized. The unelectrified line is served four times daily with SJ Norge's Class 93, although in the summer the service only operates from Åndalsnes to Bjorli as a tourist service. CargoLink operates a daily freight train. The line features two horseshoe curves and has a elevation drop. Among the line's features is the Kylling Bridge and views of the mountainous valley. Five stations remain in use: Dombås, Lesja, Lesjaverk, Bjorli and Åndalsnes. There have been launched plans to replace the line with a high speed railway. Freight train service have started up again (as of 2021); previously the freight trains discontinued service in 2018.

The long Rauma Line runs from Dombås Station on the Dovre Line to Åndalsnes Station. Dombås is located at above mean sea level (AMSL) and the railway falls to AMSL at Åndalsnes. The line has standard gauge, has 103 bridges and 5 tunnels, but unlike the Dovre Line is not electrified. but lacks centralized traffic control (CTC). The infrastructure is owned and operated by the Norwegian National Rail Administration. After passing the now closed and demolished Bottheim Station, the line reaches Lesja Station, which is from Dombås. Although not normally manned, it can be manned if needed for trains to pass. before reaching Lesjaverk Station, which is from Dombås. The next station is Bjorli, which is manned and located from Dombås. Located at AMSL, it serves an Alpine skiing center during the winter. The section from Verma Station and past Kylling Bridge acts as a new horseshoe curve. The last part of the line is the most scenic, with excellent views of the valley of Romsdalen, including the Romsdalsalpene, and features such as Trollveggen and Romsdalshorn. Marstein Station, Romsdalshron Station, runs through the long Åk Tunnel before reaching Åndalsnes Station. The station is from Oslo and serves a town with 3,000 people located on a fjord. There were made three proposals for a route: via Surnadal to Kristiansund, via Sunndal to Molde and via Romsdalen to Ålesund. The first official plans for a railway through Romsdalen was made following a meeting in Romsdal County Council in 1872, who appointed a committee to look into the construction of a railway from Mjøsa via Gudbrandsdalen and Romsdalen to Romsdal. Two years later, the council bought shares for 100,000 Norwegian speciedaler while municipalities and private investors bought shares for 396,532 specidaler. In part because of the intense rivalry between the three regions, County Governor Alexander Kielland was forced to call a referendum, which resulted in a majority for the Romsdalen route. On 18 July 1909, the Ministry of Labour gave permission for surveying, which started on 8 August. The Railway Board send a proposal for a plan for the Rauma Line to the ministry on 23 May 1910, which was passed by parliament on 20 July. However, the vote did not include any allocation of money. Additional surveying started on 18 August 1911 and was led by W. Sandberg. This time two alternatives were to be surveyed, one with a maximum gradient of 2.6 percent, and one with 2.0. On 29 June, the government approved a concession for the line to be built as a private railway.

Construction started on 12 January 1912 at Dombås. The working week consisted of six days, with a ten hour working day during summer, eight hours during winter and nine hours in spring and autumn. From 1921, a new law reduced the work week to 48 hours. The entire construction took 14,462,247 man hours. The number of people employed varied between 615 and 550. To secure sufficient water for the locomotives, the municipality built a larger water supply, including a new dam at Bjørmosen, which could secure per year for the railway. The stations were built in wood in a simple, balanced style similar to what was found on the Dovre Line. The buildings were designed in house by NSB Arkitektkontor; the main architect being Gudmund Hoel, while other major contributors were Bjarte Baastad and Gerhard Fischer. Some minor buildings were reused designs from the Dovre Line by Erik Glosimodt. The railway opened in three stages: the from Dombås to Bjorli on 19 November 1921, and the from Bjorli to Verma on 25 November 1923. The line was officially opened on 29 November 1924 and regular operations started the next day. During the Second World War, the line was bombed by Germany. This caused among other things the restaurant at Bjorli to burn down. In 1923, parliament voted to expend the line to Ålesund, but did not follow up with any grants. The decision was annulled in 1935, but local interests continued to pursue an expansion. However, there was no local consensus for any one line; there was a conflict between the three areas of Sunnmøre, Romsdal and Nordmøre, each who wanted a different branch to their city, and a conflict between building railways and roads. In 1953, the proposals were finally discarded by regional politicians. However, proposals have since regularly been made. when Di 3 locomotives were taken into use. From 1 June 1965, steam locomotives were no longer used for freight trains. In 1960, Ålesund Airport, Vigra was opened, and in the following decade also Molde Airport, Årø and Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget opened. This resulted in a reduction of passengers on the railway, although the rail fares remained considerably lower than air fares. The infrastructure was upgraded between 1973 and 1983 for NOK 70; this included replacing all wooden sleepers with concrete sleepers, and replacing the sand with ballast. In 1996, the government had proposed closing the night train service, after suggestions from NSB. The railway company was losing money on operating the night services, and stated that they needed a subsidy of , or NOK 400 per passenger, to retain the service. That year, the line had a ridership of 108,800, down from 116,500 in 1966. The service was kept after a parliamentarian compromise to convert NSB to a company in exchange for keeping the service. In 2000, NSB introduced the new two car Class 93 diesel multiple units on the Rauma Line. In October, the night train service was terminated and replaced by a night express bus. The original seating configuration in Class 93 was for 88 seats, but due to customer complaints about lack of seat pitch, NSB has reconfigured the trains in 2006 to 76 seats. Starting in 2003, NSB and the tourist board in Rauma started cooperating with running tourist trains during the summer. Aimed primarily at tourists arriving by cruise ship at Åndalsnes, the trains use longer time to Dombås, allowing for longer stops underway for passengers to disembark and board to look at various attractions. On special occasions, a steam train is used in the tourist runs.

SJ Norge operates passenger train services on the line. Using Class 93 trains, At Åndalsnes there are coordinating buses to the populated areas on the coast, such as Ålesund and Molde. CargoLink operates freight trains on the line, with one service per day per direction during the night.