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Namsos Line

Length:	Starts:	Ends:	Status:
51 km	Grong Station	Namsos Station	Abandoned

The Namsos Line is a 51.5-kilometre-long abandoned branch line of the Nordland Line which ran between Grong and Namsos. The line was opened in 1933, but the passenger traffic was closed down in 1978. Parts of the railway line has been opened for railbiking.

Namsos Line. Photo: Erlend Garåsen

The idea of a railway connection to Namsos was raised in 1874 when the authorities in the Trøndelag region proposed to build a railway line from Stjørdal. On 3 September 1877 a meeting in Grong municipality was held where an alternative route was presented. Two different alternatives were now debated – a route to Namsos either via Beitstad or Snåsa. After it was voted to extend the Nordland Line from Sunnan to Grong via Snåsa, a branch line between Namsos and Grong was approved by parliament on 2 June 1913.

The opening
The construction work started in 1916, but it was almost stopped in 1927. Next year the parliament decided to build the line cheaper with fewer stations and lighter rails. It was temporarily opened on 1 November 1933 and officially on 1 July the year after. Since the freight capacity and speed limit were low compared to the Nordland Line, freight was reloaded on Grong station. Bus services and cars outcompeted the passenger traffic on the Namsos Line the decades after, and on 1 January 1978 it terminated. From 1 January 1999 freight trains stopped running to Namsos and Skogmo became the new terminal station. For the moment it is possible to go railbiking on the Namsos Line, but there are plans to replace the track with a cycle path.