{"id":3203,"date":"2019-12-19T17:34:03","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T17:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nordnorge.com\/en\/?post_type=aktiviteter&p=3203"},"modified":"2025-09-01T11:04:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T11:04:59","slug":"the-ofoten-railway-in-narvik-crosses-norway-in-one-hour","status":"publish","type":"aktiviteter","link":"https:\/\/nordnorge.com\/en\/aktiviteter\/the-ofoten-railway-in-narvik-crosses-norway-in-one-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ofoten Railway in Narvik crosses Norway in one hour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t A 42km train journey from Narvik to the Swedish border takes you from fjord to mountain through a wild, dramatic, uninhabited landscape. The story of the building of the railway and the events of WWII form an equally dramatic backdrop.\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n

The 42-km (26-mile) long Ofotbanen railway has no connection with the rest of the Norwegian railway network. But the railway does cross the Swedish border, going all the way to Kiruna, and from there connects with the Swedish railway network. One curve on the track just after leaving Narvik is the most northerly point on the Western European standard gauge railway network. So from Narvik you can take a train to virtually anywhere you want to go in Europe. Or you can take the train up to the Swedish border and back and experience the great variety of the landscape and the magnificent scenery.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Season<\/h3>\n\t\t\t

All seasons<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Difficulty<\/h3>\n\t\t\t

Easy<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Route<\/h3>\n\t\t\t

Along the tracks<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>

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From summer to spring to winter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our journalist took the train trip in mid-June, the sun was peeking over a lush, early-summer fjord landscape as we left Narvik. Travelling along the Rombakfjord the track rises high above the fjord, offering magnificent views of the snow-clad mountains. In the waters far below we glimpse the rust-covered wreck of a German destroyer sunk in the Battle of Narvik in 1940. As we move up the Hundalen valley the track makes a great sweeping curve in the valley side, and we can see only jagged peaks, deep valleys and green forests. Finally, we reach the high mountains, where willow thickets and dwarf birch cluster among huge boulders and large patches of snow. At Vassijaure, just across the Swedish border, we change trains and go back down the way we came, passing from winter, to spring, to summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The stations along the Ofotbanen railway are in stark contrast to the wild landscape. Neat and elegant, the stations were designed by the railway\u2019s own architects. We glide slowly past the restored old water tower at Rombak station, and make a brief stop at Katterat with its red-painted station building. Here there are also lawns and gardens from the days when the railway had its own gardeners. Katterat was one of the stations where there were points systems enabling the trains to change tracks. After automatically controlled points were introduced, there was no longer any need for a permanent settlement at Katterat.<\/p>\n\n\n\t

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