Editing Rauma Line (section)

==History==

===Planning===
Following the plans of a railway between Oslo and Trondheim via Dovre, members of parliament from Møre og Romsdal asked the [[Ministry of the Interior (Norway)|Ministry of the Interior]] to also make plan for a branch to the coast of Møre og Romsdal.<ref name="hoel">{{Cite web |last=Hoel |first=Arve |year=2008 |title=På baksiden av konvolutten |url=http://www.aalesundfilatelistklubb.no/portal//data/sites/1/aafk_filer/filateli-nytt/Filateli-Nytt_nr_3_2008.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903022834/http://www.aalesundfilatelistklubb.no/portal//data/sites/1/aafk_filer/filateli-nytt/Filateli-Nytt_nr_3_2008.pdf |archive-date=3 September 2011 |access-date=13 July 2011 |website=Filateli-Nytt |pages=36–37 |language=no |issue=3}}</ref> There were made three proposals for a route: via [[Surnadal Municipality|Surnadal]] to [[Kristiansund Municipality|Kristiansund]], via [[Sunndal Municipality|Sunndal]] to [[Molde Municipality|Molde]] and via [[Romsdalen]] to [[Ålesund Municipality|Ålesund]].<ref name="b78">Bjørnstad (1990): 78</ref>

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]] ({{NOK|400,000}}) while municipalities and private investors bought shares for 396,532 specidaler.<ref name="r19">Raumabanen (1994): 19</ref>

In part because of the intense rivalry between the three regions, [[List of County Governors of Møre og Romsdal|County Governor]] [[Alexander Kielland]] was forced to call a referendum, which resulted in a majority for the Romsdalen route.<ref name="b78" /> However, no specific political decisions was made until 1908, when plans for the line were made part of a national railway plan, approved by the [[Parliament of Norway]] on 9 and 10 June.<ref name="r19" /> At the time, the line was estimated to cost {{NOK|8.5 million}}.<ref name="b77">Bjørnstad (1990): 77</ref>

On 18 July 1909, the [[Ministry of Labour (Norway 1885–1946)|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 (contract)|concession]] for the line to be built as a [[private railways of Norway|private railway]].<ref name="r19" /> The final plan for construction was presented by the Railway Board to the ministry of 17 June 1912, and was passed by parliament on 27 July.<ref name="r24">Raumabanen (1994): 24</ref>

[[File:Dombås stasjon.jpeg|thumb|left|[[Dombås Station]] in 1924]]

===Construction===
Construction started on 12 January 1912 at Dombås.<ref name="b77" /> The work was divided into four geographic divisions, with offices located at Åndalsnes, Ormheim, Sørsletten and Holaker.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 35</ref> 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.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 36</ref> The number of people employed varied between 615 and 550.<ref name="b77" /> Most of the workforce consisted of people from other parts of the country, and some foreigners, mostly from Sweden. The [[navvie]]s were often unmarried and spent large parts of their income on alcohol.<ref name="b78" />

In Åndalsnes, a cutting was made for the line and the earthwork from the cutting was used to create artificial land for the station and port.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 37</ref> To secure sufficient water for the locomotives, the municipality built a larger water supply, including a new dam at Bjørmosen, which could secure {{convert|120|m3}} per year for the railway.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 44</ref> 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 (architect)|Gerhard Fischer]]. Some minor buildings were reused designs from the Dovre Line by [[Erik Glosimodt]].<ref>Hartmann (1997): 184</ref>

The railway opened in three stages: the {{convert|56.8|km}} from Dombås to Bjorli on 19 November 1921, and the {{convert|18.3|km}} from Bjorli to Verma on 25 November 1923.<ref name="r24" /> Until the whole line was taken into use, there was a [[Railway roundhouse|roundhouse]] in use at Bjorli.<ref>Hartmann (1997): 141</ref>  The line was officially opened on 29 November 1924 and regular operations started the next day.<ref name="r24" />

[[File:63a-2770 Stuguflåtbrua 2004 SRS.jpg|thumb|A preserved [[DRB Class 52|Class 63]] "Great German" on [[Stuguflåt Bridge]]]]

===Operation===
Maintenance was originally organized with under two track masters, one in Åndalsnes and one in Dombås, and subdivided into 17 divisions. Each division had two employees, a [[platelayer]] foreman and a platelayer, in addition to four seasonal workers during the summer. Each division had a railway-owned house for the family of the two platelayers. Later the areas were merged to a single track master in Åndalsnes.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 169</ref> During the [[Second World War]], the line was bombed by Germany. This caused among other things the restaurant at Bjorli to burn down.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 139</ref>

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.<ref name="hoel" />

The line played an important role in the World War II in 1940, when Germany attacked Norway ("[[Operation Weserübung]]"). Bergen and Trondheim and with a little delay Oslo, were quickly occupied by Germany, but not Åndalsnes, Ålesund and Molde. This allowed British forces to land in this area, and the king, government and the gold reserve could be sent to the United Kingdom.

Regular use of steam locomotives in passenger trains was terminated from 1 June 1958,<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 237</ref> when [[NSB Di 3|Di 3]] locomotives were taken into use.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 243</ref> From 1 June 1965, steam locomotives were no longer used for freight trains.<ref>Raumabanen (1994): 241</ref> 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&nbsp;70; this included replacing all wooden [[sleeper (rail)|sleepers]] with concrete sleepers, and replacing the sand with ballast.<ref name="b80">Bjørnstad (1990): 80</ref>

[[File:Bjorli Station 2009.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bjorli Station]] during winter]]
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 {{NOK|8 million}}, or NOK&nbsp;400 per passenger, to retain the service. That year, the line had a ridership of 108,800, down from 116,500 in 1966.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nilsen |first=Knut A. |date=8 August 1996 |title=Åndalsnes kan miste nattoget |work=[[Aftenposten]] |page=16 |language=no}}</ref> The service was kept after a parliamentarian compromise to convert NSB to a company in exchange for keeping the service.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haugan |first=Bjørn |date=8 November 1996 |title=Samråd koster |work=[[Verdens Gang]] |page=17 |language=no}}</ref>

In 2000, NSB introduced the new two-car [[NSB Class 93|Class 93]] [[diesel multiple unit]]s on the Rauma Line.<ref name="krogrud">{{Cite journal |last=Krogrud, Svein |year=2000 |title=Type 93 – NSBs nye Talbot Talent |journal=[[På Sporet]] |volume=103 |pages=4–8}}</ref> In October, the night train service was terminated and replaced by a night express bus.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 October 2000 |title=Buss erstatter nattog Oslo-Møre |language=no |agency=[[Norwegian News Agency]]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Forbord, Arne |date=14 March 2006 |title=Garanterer bedre plass på Agenda |url=http://www.ranablad.no/nyheter/article1999362.ece |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724183336/http://www.ranablad.no/nyheter/article1999362.ece |archive-date=24 July 2011 |access-date=13 July 2011 |publisher=[[Rana Blad]] |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=NSB |author-link=Vy |title=Class 93 |url=http://www.nsb.no/om-vaare-tog/nsb-regiontog-type-93-article38030-4480.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808041413/http://www.nsb.no/om-vaare-tog/nsb-regiontog-type-93-article38030-4480.html |archive-date=8 August 2011 |access-date=13 July 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hustad |first=Rune |date=4 May 2007 |title=Nytt tilbud på Raumabanen |url=http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/more_og_romsdal/1.2369281 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102185010/http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/more_og_romsdal/1.2369281 |archive-date=2 November 2012 |access-date=13 July 2011 |work=[[Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation]] |language=no}}</ref>