Ofotbanen

Ofotbanen
250px
The port for iron ore in Narvik in 1924
Info
Type	Railway
System	Norwegian railway
Start station	Narvik Port
End station	Riksgränsen
No. of stations	7
Operation
Opened	November 15, 1902
Owner	Jernbaneverket
Operator(s)	CargoNet Malmtrafikk Ofotbanen
Character	Freight
Technical
Line length	43
No. of tracks	1
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Electrified	15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC
Highest elevation	513 m

Ofotbanen is a railway line between the village of Riksgränsen in Sweden and the port of Narvik in Norway. It is the northernmost of the railway lines in Norway. The line was opened on November 15, 1902 and electrified in 1923 at 15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC. In Sweden the line is connected to Malmbanan.

Even though the line has passenger service with trains going all the way to Stockholm, a 1580 km long journey, the most important function is the transportation of iron ore to Narvik, where ships carry it on. The line is operated by the companies Ofotbanen, CargoNet and Malmtrafikk.

Operators

There are three companies that operate on the line:

• Ofotbanen operates passenger trains to Sweden.
• Malmtrafikk operates the iron ore trains to Kiruna.
• CargoNet operates general freight trains, including the ARE trains.

Stations within Norway

Map of Ofotbanen and Malmbanan

Station name	Municipality	Distance from Narvik port(km)	Altitude (m)
Narvik	Narvik	3.7	46.6
Straumsnes	Narvik	13.8	177.8
Rombak	Narvik	20.1	264.7
Katterat	Narvik	29.7	373.5
Søsterbekk	Narvik	36.0	n/a
Bjørnfjell	Narvik	40.4	513.0
Riksgränsen	1 km inside Sweden	43.0	N/A

External links

• Ofotbanen AS (Norwegian)
• Jerbaneverket's list of stations on Ofotbanen (Norwegian)
• Jernbaneverket's list of stations on Ofotbanen (in English but lacks descriptions)
• Article on Ofotbanen's history (Swedish)