Scenic route
Dovrebanen
Oslo → Trondheim · Norway
Dovrebanen in pictures
Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 553 km
- Fastest time
- ≈ 6 h 40 min
- Average speed
- 83 km/h
- Top speed
- 200 km/h
- Operator
- SJ Norge
- Train
- SJ Nord long-distance
- Countries
- Norway
- In service since
- 1921
- Runs
- 4× daily each way, plus a night train
- Highest point
- 1,024 m
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
Over the Dovrefjell plateau where wild musk oxen roam: mountain birch, snow fences and midnight sun.
Norway’s great trunk line north climbs the length of Gudbrandsdalen before breaking out above the treeline onto the Dovrefjell, high country crossed by pilgrims bound for Nidaros since the Middle Ages. The rails crest at 1,024 m near Hjerkinn, then follow the Driva river down through ever-greener country to the fjord at Trondheim. Completed in 1921, the line is still the backbone of travel between Norway’s present and medieval capitals.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 8854197 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 95 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 29 m from it
- Checked against the running timetable via ÖBB Scotty: our line sits 0.1 km from the shape of R 43 (Zug-Nr. 43)
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
Along the way
- Lake Mjøsa shoreline
- Gudbrandsdalen valley
- Dovrefjell plateau
- Hjerkinn — summit at 1,024 m
- Drivdalen descent
- Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim
More scenic routes
- Glacier Express
“The world’s slowest express”: 291 bridges, 91 tunnels and the 2,033 m Oberalp Pass at an average of 36 km/h.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bernina Express
A UNESCO World Heritage railway: 7 % grades with no rack, the Brusio spiral, and the highest rail crossing of the Alps at 2,253 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bergensbanen
Northern Europe’s highest main line: over the bare Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 m, through 182 tunnels.
Wikipedia ↗ - West Highland Line
Regularly voted the world’s most scenic railway: around Rannoch Moor and over the 21-arch Glenfinnan Viaduct of film fame.
Wikipedia ↗
More train routes in Norway.
Planning this trip? Journey time & direct trains: Oslo → Trondheim · Trondheim → Oslo.