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Flekkefjord Line

Length:	Starts:	Ends:	Status:
17 km	Sira Station	Flekkefjord Station	Abandoned

When the Flekkefjord Line opened in 1904, it was 72.8 kilometres long and ran between Egersund and Flekkefjord. The line was shortened to 17.1 kilometres when the Sørlandet Line opened in 1943. In 1991 the line was closed, but is now open for railbiking.

Photos

Movie

Sira Station. Photo: Anders B. Wilse/Norsk Folkemuseum

Since the Flekkefjord Line had to be built in a mountainous area, which required many curves and as much as 46 tunnels, it became an ambiguous and expensive project. The politicians of Egersund were sceptical about the line, because they feared that their city would be more isolated and only connected by a spur line. The ambiguous project was defended by a future plan to connect Eastern and Western Norway together, because the line should later be extended to Kristiansand via Mandal and further towards Oslo.

The construction
The 72.8-kilometre long narrow-gauged Flekkefjord Line was approved in Parliament on 1 March 1894. The 1,174-metre long Ravnejuvet Tunnel became Norway's longest railway tunnel until the Gravhals Tunnel opened on the Bergen Line in 1906. In 1897 the construction work started. The Flekkefjord Line was connected to the Jæren Line at Eie Switch where an one-kilometre long spur branched off to Egersund Station. Since the trains from Stavanger had to back off to Eie Switch before continuing towards Flekkefjord, Egersund became a cul-de-sac station.

The opening
On 1 October 1904 the first ordinary train ran on the Flekkefjord Line, but the official opening was on 31 October. The timetable was not popular among the inhabitants of Egersund since it favoured Flekkefjord. The morning train arrived Flekkefjord at 8:45 and returned at 4 in the afternoon, ideal for the farmers to sell their products at the town square. In Egersund, on the other hand, the train only stayed at the station for one hour, between 12 and 1 pm. The line was not especially profitable. The peak was in 1906 with 10,000 annual passengers.

Connected to the Sørlandet Line
The previous plans to extend the Flekkefjord Line eastwards via Mandal was terminated when the Sørlandet Line's route between Kristiansand and Stavanger was approved in Parliament on 17 November 1923. This route should run through a tunnel between Tronvik and Sira and continue towards Kristiansand via Snartemo and Marnardal. It was also decided that the Flekkefjord Line should be connected to the Sørlandet Line at Sira Station. A new 3.2-kilometre long connection line was required between Sirnes and Sira.

Standard gauge
The construction of the connection line started in 1940. This was built with standard gauge and opened on 17 December 1943. The remaining part of the Flekkefjord Line was upgraded to standard gauge on 1 May 1944, but all the curves and the tunnel dimensions were kept. As a consequence, normal passenger couches could not be used, only motor couches and freight wagons. The connection line between Sirnes and Tronvik was demolished on 1 May 1944 and replaced by road in 1946.

Closed
The Flekkefjord Line was now a 17.1-kilometre long branch line of the Sørlandet Line. In 1990 the line was closed for traffic and demolished on 1 January next year. On 7 August 2015 the Flekkefjord Line was preserved. Today the line is open for railbiking between Flekkefjord and Bakkekleivi Halt.