page_title: Polar Line
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Polar Line / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: Trengsel bru.
context_page_description: The Polar Line is an incomplete and abandoned railway line from Fauske, Norway, to Narvik and, if finished, ultimately would have run 1,215 km to Kirkenes.
  The railway was constructed by the Wehrmacht in occupied Norway during the Second World War as part of Festung Norwegen. At Fauske, the line connected with the Nordland Line, and construction stretched as far north as Drag, Tysfjord.
  After the war, the plans were abandoned by Norwegian authorities, although from the 1970s they were revitalized as part of the proposed Northern Norway Line. Some tunnels and bridges remain and part of the route has been used to build European Road E6.
context_section_description: The Nordland Line was completed to Bodø in 1962. In the 1960s, Parliament voted to pause any further plans to build a railway northwards for ten years. Instead, the road network was to be expanded. Starting in the 1970s, a series of regional airports were built, largely undermining the need for the railway for passenger transport. In 1968, NSB again considered the Northern Norway Line, a proposal to extend the Nordland Line from Fauske via Narvik to Harstad and Tromsø. The Ministry of Transport and Communications recommended that the line not be built. However, during the 1970s, income from petroleum production started a public debate as to whether the income should be used on domestic infrastructure investments.
  In 1977, the Ribu Commission was established to look into building a new railway north of Fauske. The commission made no clear recommendation as to whether the line should be built, but stated although it had a cost of NOK 4.4 billion and would need operating subsidies, it would provide a positive economic impact on the region, particularly if additional industrial and commercial investments were made along the route. Parliament did not make a decision when it debated the commission's report in 1983. Instead, a new report was issued in 1992. This time it was planned as a high-speed railway, but in 1994, the project was rejected by Parliament.
  When the E6 highway was built northwards from Fauske during the 1960s, parts of the right-of-way built for the Polar Line was used for the road. Specifically, the highway follows the railway route from Fauske past Vallvatnet to a point beyond Straumen, in addition to a section of the right-of-way past Torkilseng. The road also used tunnels built at Asp, Eva, Espenes, Kobbvatnet and north of Tømmerneset.
caption: Trengsel Bridge on European Road E6 was originally planned as part of the Polar Line and part of a tunnel is still visible from the road.
exif: {}