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113-692: The Vestfold Line ( Norwegian : Vestfoldbanen ) is a 137.79-kilometer (85.62 mi) railway line which runs between Drammen and Eidanger in Norway. The line connects to the Drammen Line at the northern terminus at Drammen Station and continues as the Bratsberg Line past Skien Station . The line is exclusively used for passenger trains, which are provided by Vy , which connect northwards to Oslo and south-westwards to Grenland . The 13-kilometer (8.1 mi) section from Eidanger to Skien

226-528: A dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects , in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages , constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While

339-493: A 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mi) segment from Åshaugen via a new Sande Station to Holm. The Skoger section opened in on 17 October 1995, while the section past Sande did not open until 23 October 2001. Part of the reason for five-year delay with the second segment was delays with the installation of the signaling system which was being carried out by Adtranz . In September 1999, the government presented their proposal for National Transport Plan 2002–11, which included three segments on

452-557: A branch line to Horten. A major argument against the coastal route was that the towns already had a good steamship service, with services several daily departures. A third major alternative was to bypass the coast altogether and build a connection from the Kongsberg Line at Skollenborg Station down the valley of Lågendalen to Larvik. The main advantage of this alternative was the large potential for hydroelectricity along Numedalslågen . Jarlsberg and Larvik County Council and

565-467: A combined length of 32 kilometers (20 mi) of high-speed double track. Designed for speeds of 250 km/h (160 mph), the new segment will feature the 12.3-kilometer (7.6 mi) Holmestrandfjellet Tunnel , which will contain the four-track Holmestrand Station . The segment is estimated to cost NOK 5.7 billion and is scheduled for completion in 2016. The 35-kilometer (22 mi) section of railway which runs between Farriseidet and Porsgrunn

678-524: A continuous double track between Oslo and Tønsberg by the end of 2024, and a completed double track all the way to Skien in 2032. Norwegian language Norwegian ( endonym : norsk [ˈnɔʂːk] ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway , where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish , Norwegian forms

791-435: A distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; there is, however, a renewed interest in preserving dialects. Norwegian nouns are inflected for number (singular/plural) and for definiteness (indefinite/definite). In

904-548: A few dialects, definite nouns are also inflected for the dative case . Norwegian nouns belong to three noun classes (genders): masculine, feminine and neuter. All feminine nouns can optionally be inflected using masculine noun class morphology in Bokmål due to its Danish heritage. In comparison, the use of all three genders (including the feminine) is mandatory in Nynorsk. All Norwegian dialects have traditionally retained all

1017-507: A freight services on weekdays. The most important train was the post train, a combined post and passenger express which departed Oslo West Station at 08 hours and returned from Skien at 15 hours. It used the newest rolling stock Vy had available. At Skoppum there was a corresponding local train to Horten. From the opening of the Brevik Line in 1895, local trains started running between Brevik and Skien, and an additional daily express train

1130-400: A high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent)—the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis or focus, and corresponds in function to the normal accent in languages that lack lexical tone , such as English. That rise culminates in

1243-420: A level crossing at Smørstein on 17 August 1918 the area around the track started experiencing a series of landslides. Within a few days the earthwork under the tracks had slid away. Vy hired a steamship to freight passengers and cargo past the effected area, and part of the traffic was freighted across the fjord from Horten to Moss . A temporary line was built close to the mountain, while construction took place of

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1356-408: A main span of 1,300 and 1,500 meters (4,300 and 4,900 ft). A bridge or tunnel crossing further south would require more advanced technology and presumably consist of combination of various bridge technologies, including as a pontoon bridge or a submerged floating tunnel . The Norwegian National Transport Plan for 2018-2029 states that one of the priorities for the railway system is to establish

1469-582: A new Grenland Line . It would connect to the Vestfold Line just north of Porsgrunn Station and would run 59 kilometers (37 mi) from Porsgrunn to Skorstøl on the Sørlandet Line. The line is estimated to cost NOK 20-26 billion and would allow the travel time from Kragerø to Oslo of 2 hours and from Kristiansand to Oslo in 3 hours and 23 minutes. Passenger trains along the Sørlandet Line, and possibly freight trains, would be routed via

1582-428: A new double track line between Larvik and Porsgrunn opened, which shortened the travel-time from 33 to 12 minutes. The Vestfold Line runs from Drammen Station to Eidanger Station, through three counties ( Buskerud , Vestfold, and Telemark ) and six municipalities ( Drammen , Holmestrand , Horten , Tønsberg , Larvik , and Porsgrunn . The line is 137.79 kilometers (85.62 mi), of which 24 kilometers (15 mi)

1695-501: A noun, unlike English which has a separate article, the , to indicate the same. In general, almost all nouns in Bokmål follow these patterns (like the words in the examples above): In contrast, almost all nouns in Nynorsk follow these patterns (the noun gender system is more pronounced than in Bokmål): There is in general no way to infer what grammatical gender a specific noun has, but there are some patterns of nouns where

1808-522: A proposed Grenland Line. The segment includes seven tunnels with a combined length of 14.5 kilometers (9.0 mi) and five bridges. Municipal zoning of the segment was passed in July 2010, with construction commencing in September 2012. Construction is estimated to cost NOK 5.3 billion and is scheduled for completion in 2018. There are proposals to connect the Vestfold Line with the Sørlandet Line via

1921-477: A railway through Vestfold in the late 1860s, when the Randsfjorden Line was built to Drammen, opening in 1868. The parliamentarians from Jarlsberg and Larvik County (renamed Vestfold in 1919) appealed to the government in 1869 for the construction of a railway through Vestfold south from Drammen to Larvik and onwards to Langefjorden . The request was positively accepted by the government, who instructed

2034-472: A section of 15 kilometers (9.3 mi). At the peak, in 1879, there were 2,114 people working on the railway construction, receiving an average NOK 2.50 per day in wage. Because King Oscar II happened to be touring Norway in October 1881, the railway between Drammen and Larvik was officially opened by him on 13 October 1881, including the branch to Horten. However, the construction was not completed and

2147-421: A single language, to be called Samnorsk . A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at the time. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against Samnorsk in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk

2260-468: A single unit did not provide sufficient capacity while two units provided too much capacity. Despite the upgrades, by 1997 the trains from Larvik to Oslo were using twenty minutes longer than they were in 1973, and the average speed on the Vestfold Line was down to 65 km/h (40 mph). Starting work in 1993, the first two section of the Vestfold Line to be upgraded were a 4.5-kilometer (2.8 mi) double track segment from Kobbervikdalen to Skoger, and

2373-428: A single vote. The name Nynorsk , the linguistic term for modern Norwegian , was chosen to contrast with Danish and emphasise the historical connection to Old Norwegian. Today, this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål. Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into

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2486-580: A steamship service could be set up from Larvik to Frederikshavn , Denmark. There was also at the time problems with the inner parts of the Oslofjord and the Drammensfjord icing during winter, and access to the ports on the outer fjord would ease the export situation for industry. There were a multitude of proposals for where the railway should run. The only points of agreement were that the line should run through Tønsberg, Sandefjord and Larvik, and

2599-467: A temporary solution, the Smørstein Tunnel . The temporary line opened on 28 October 1918 and the new segment with a tunnel on 25 May 1921. The Jarlsberg Line officially changed its name to the Vestfold Line on 1 July 1930. It received thirty-eight new stops in the period between 1928 and 1932. The county council debated conversion of the line to standard gauge in 1910, and issued a request to

2712-413: Is Bokmål will study Nynorsk as a mandatory subject throughout both elementary and high school. A 2005 poll indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5.5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing

2825-411: Is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The now-abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål and is far closer to Danish while

2938-458: Is bridged. In 2018, the original single-track route between Farriselva (Larvik) at lake Farris and Porsgrunn (via Oklungen ) was abandoned in favour of a newbuilt double-track high-speed bypass, using several tunnels and not-so-small bridges. Alongside Skienselva , Vestfold Line gets northward to Skien . Revenue traffic on the line is nearly exclusively provided by Vy as a regional service, numbered RE11. These continue southwards along

3051-624: Is double track. The entire line is electrified, has partial automatic train control and GSM-R . It has 111 level crossings , of which 29 have light and bar. The railway line is owned and maintained by the Norwegian National Rail Administration . The route roughly follows the coastline of Oslofjorden whilst, concerning the first section, running from Drammen to Sande inland, bypassing thereby Oslofjords western finger Drammensfjorden . Holmestrandsporten tunnel between Holm i Sande and Nykirke ( Horten )

3164-607: Is in part a response to the E18 being upgraded to a motorway. In addition to increased speeds, the current line does not allow for more trains to operate. Plans call for an initial construction of the Inner Intercity Triangle, which will give continual double track from Tønsberg to Oslo, in addition to the shortening of the segment between Larvik and Porsgrunn. This will allow travel time from Tønsberg to Oslo to be reduced from 1 hour and 28 minutes to 1 hour. An upgrade of

3277-404: Is in the process of being replaced with a new, high-speed 23.5-kilometer (14.6 mi) section. It will reduce travel time between Larvik Station and Porsgrunn Station from 34 to 12 minutes. Originally planned as single track with two passing loops, it was upped to double track with surveys showing increased traffic should the Sørlandet Line be connected to the Vestfold Line with the construction of

3390-420: Is often colloquially included in the Vestfold Line.The standard gauge line is electrified at 15 kV  16.7 Hz AC and has twelve remaining stations. The Vestfold Line runs through the coastal region of Vestfold and serves major towns including Holmestrand , Tønsberg , Sandefjord and Larvik , as well as Sandefjord Airport, Torp . The section to Larvik Station was opened on 13 October 1881 and

3503-556: Is regulated by the Norwegian Academy , which determines acceptable spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. There is also an unofficial form of Nynorsk, called Høgnorsk , discarding the post-1917 reforms, and thus close to Ivar Aasen's original Landsmål. It is supported by Ivar Aasen-sambandet , but has found no widespread use. In 2010, 86.5% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary schools in Norway receive education in Bokmål, while 13.0% receive education in Nynorsk. From

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3616-459: Is to write in dialect for informal use. When writing an SMS, Facebook update, or fridge note, many people, especially young ones, write approximations of the way they talk rather than using Bokmål or Nynorsk. There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of different Norwegian dialects. Variations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create

3729-587: Is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy , which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is Høgnorsk ('High Norwegian'), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, but not for how to speak

3842-405: Is uvular [ ʁ ] or [ χ ] . And in the dialects of North-Western Norway, it is realized as [ r ] , much like the trilled ⟨rr⟩ of Spanish. Norwegian is a pitch-accent language with two distinct pitch patterns, like Swedish. They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciation. For example, in many East Norwegian dialects,

3955-496: Is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are Setesdal , the western part of Telemark county ( fylke ) and several municipalities in Hallingdal , Valdres , and Gudbrandsdalen . It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in many rural parts of Trøndelag (mid-Norway) and

4068-605: The Brevik Line (1895), the Tønsberg–Eidsfoss Line (1901) and the Holmestrand–Vittingfoss Line (1902). The latter two were private and closed in 1938. The Vestfold Line received gauge conversion from the original narrow gauge 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) in 1949, as the last mainline railway in Norway. It was electrified in 1957. Since the 1980s there have been plans to upgrade

4181-466: The Dano-Norwegian language that replaced Middle Norwegian as the elite language after the union of Denmark–Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries and then evolved in Norway, while Nynorsk was developed based upon a collective of spoken Norwegian dialects. Norwegian is one of the two official languages in Norway, along with Sámi , a Finno-Ugric language spoken by less than one percent of

4294-533: The Directorate for Cultural Heritage : Skoppum, Tønsberg, Stokke , Råstad , the goods house at Sandefjord, the engine shed at Larvik Station , Eidanger Station and Borgestad Station . The Vestfold Line is part of the Intercity Triangle, which the authorities wish to prioritize for future upgrades. The long-term goal is to construct a continuous high-speed double track from Oslo to Skien. This

4407-587: The Germanic languages evolved, further branching off into the North Germanic languages , of which Norwegian is one. Proto-Norse is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic during the first centuries AD in what is today Southern Sweden. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and the language attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions,

4520-638: The Hanseatic League between 1250 and 1450 in the main Scandinavian cities brought large Middle Low German –speaking populations to Norway. The influence of their language on Scandinavian is comparable with that of French on English after the Norman conquest . In the late Middle Ages, dialects began to develop in Scandinavia because the population was rural and little travel occurred. When

4633-564: The Reformation came from Germany, Martin Luther 's High German translation of the Bible was quickly translated into Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. Norway entered a union with Denmark in 1397 and Danish, over time, replaced Middle Norwegian as the language of the elite, the church, literature, and the law. When the union with Denmark ended in 1814, the Dano-Norwegian koiné had become

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4746-549: The Røros Line . Two Class IX from Swiss Locomotive & Machine Works units were transferred to the Vestfold Line in 1897. Two more Class XIII were delivered in 1900. Two Class XXIIIa locomotives were delivered from Hamar Jernstøperi in 1907 and 1908, with a further ten Class XXIIId units delivered from Thune between 1913 and 1915. The line later received various other steam locomotives as narrow gauge railways were converted to standard gauge. During construction of

4859-489: The parish ) is named after the old Sande farm ( Old Norse : Sandvin ) since the first Sande Church was built there. The first element comes from the word sandr which means " sand ". The last element comes from the word vin which means " meadow " or " pasture ". The medieval era Sande Church is located in the village of Sande. The parish is part of the Nord-Jarlsberg prosti . The building material

4972-416: The 15-kilometer (9.3 mi) line and tunnel between Asker and Drammen, which all trains must follow to Oslo and which has a maximum speed of 130-kilometre-per-hour (81 mph). Construction of the 14.1-kilometer (8.8 mi) section of double track between Holm and Nykirke commenced on 16 August 2010. The segment will connect the passing loop at Nykirke and the double-tracked segment through Sande, giving

5085-475: The 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are comparable to American and British English differences . Riksmål

5198-560: The Barkåker–Tønsberg section was criticized by several pro-railway interest organizations, including Vy, which instead recommended that the National Rail Administration place the investments on hold until more of the Vestfold Line was planned. The short segment gives little operational advantages, while hindering a new line from running via the population centers of Horten, Åsgårdstrand and Eik . Construction of

5311-660: The Bratsberg Line to Grenland towns of Porsgrunn and Skien and northwards along the Drammen and Asker Line to Oslo and onwards via the Gardermoen Line to Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and the Dovre Line to Lillehammer . Trains operate with a fixed hourly service, with additional trains during rush-hour. Vy uses Class 70 and 74 electric multiple units on the line. Vy freighted 1.7 million passengers on

5424-478: The Horten Line, was taken into use on 3 October 1949. The Vestfold Line was the last railway in Norway to receive gauge conversion. Most of the remaining narrow gauge rolling stock was therefore sold to Sweden. The Bratsberg and Brevik Line were electrified before the Vestfold Line, between 1936 and 1949. Electrification of the Vestfold Line took place in three segments. First the segment from Eidanger to Larvik

5537-512: The Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy throughout the years. Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called moderate or conservative , depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses

5650-446: The Vestfold Line could terminate at Oslo East Station and continue onwards to Lillehammer . The same year a commuter association was started for the Vestfold Line. With the delivery of new B5 carriages, Vy was able to put additional B3 carriages in to use on the Vestfold Line. Automatic train stop was installed from Drammen to Larvik on 18 July 1990 and from Larvik to Skien on 28 November 1991. The first stages of modernization of

5763-411: The Vestfold Line from the 1970s. From the late 1970s and early 1980s, these were replaced with El 13 . Centralized traffic control was introduced in steps during the early 1970s. The section from Drammen to Holmestrand received it on 16 December 1970, the section onwards to Tønsberg on 1 July 1971, the section onwards to Sandefjord on 15 September 1971, the section onwards to Larvik on 27 October 1971,

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5876-439: The Vestfold Line had fallen out of the plans. However, several of the surrounding railways were converted to standard gauge. The Drammen Line was converted to dual gauge between 1917 and 1920, and then only standard gauge from 13 November 1922. The Drammen Line was electrified in two stages, in 1922 and 1930. The Bratsberg Line opened between Notodden and Skien in 1917, and the section of the Vestfold Line from Skien to Eidanger

5989-462: The Vestfold Line to act as an airport rail link to Sandefjord Airport, Torp , which had during the 1990s grown as both a regional airport and as a low-cost airport for Ryanair . National Transport Plan 2002–11 proposed that construction start in 2005, but by November 2002, the National Rail Administration delayed the plans, following investment cuts by Bondevik's Second Cabinet . In response, Minister of Transport Torild Skogsholm stated that she

6102-477: The Vestfold Line were carried out through a combination of new trains and sections of double track. Vy ordered of the Class 70 trains for their InterCityExpress services in 1988. Capable of speeds of 160 km/h (99 mph), they were introduced on the Vestfold Line in 1992. The new trains increased capacity on the Vestfold Line with 2,100 seats per day. Vy soon found that the four-car trains had an unsuitable size:

6215-577: The Vestfold Line. It is therefore necessary to complete the upgrade of the Vestfold Line before the Grenland Line is opened. There are plans to build a new road crossing of the Oslofjord between Horten and Moss , which would replace the Moss–Horten Ferry . It could include a connection of the Vestfold Line with the Østfold Line. One alternative was a suspension bridge across Drøbaksundet, which could be built to accommodate trains and feature

6328-606: The Vestfold Line: Holm–Nykirke , Barkåker–Tønsberg and Farriseidet – Porsgrunn . When Parliament passed the plan in February 2001, the Barkåker–Tønsberg segment was prioritized second on the Vestfold Line, after a new passing loop at Nykirke . The passing loop was completed in 2002, the same year as all traffic on the Horten Line was terminated. Råstad Station reopened as Sandefjord Airport Station on 21 January 2007, serving Sandefjord Airport, Torp . This allowed

6441-399: The dialects and comparing the dialects among the different regions. He examined the development of Icelandic , which had largely escaped the influences under which Norwegian had come. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, Landsmål , meaning 'national language'. The name Landsmål is sometimes interpreted as 'rural language' or 'country language', but this

6554-596: The dialects. The retroflex consonants only appear in East Norwegian dialects as a result of sandhi , combining / ɾ / with / d / , / l / , / n / , / s / , and / t / . The realization of the rhotic / ɾ / depends on the dialect. In Eastern, Central, and Northern Norwegian dialects, it is a flap [ ɾ ] , whereas in Western and Southern Norway, and for some speakers also in Eastern Norway, it

6667-644: The eighth grade onwards, pupils are required to learn both. Out of the 431 municipalities in Norway, 161 have declared that they wish to communicate with the central authorities in Bokmål, 116 (representing 12% of the population) in Nynorsk, while 156 are neutral. Of 4,549 state publications in 2000, 8% were in Nynorsk, and 92% in Bokmål. The large national newspapers ( Aftenposten , Dagbladet , and VG ) are published in Bokmål or Riksmål. Some major regional newspapers (including Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad ), many political journals, and many local newspapers use both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A newer trend

6780-403: The final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall common in most languages is either very small or absent. There are significant variations in pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects) accent 1 is falling, while accent 2 is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around

6893-501: The forms that are close to Nynorsk is called radical . Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål. Opponents of the spelling reforms aimed at bringing Bokmål closer to Nynorsk have retained the name Riksmål and employ spelling and grammar that predate the Samnorsk movement. Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of

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7006-490: The gender can be inferred. For instance, all nouns ending in - nad will be masculine in both Bokmål and Nynorsk (for instance the noun jobbsøknad , which means 'job application'). Most nouns ending in - ing will be feminine, like the noun forventning ('expectation'). Sande, Vestfold The 1.36-square-kilometre (340-acre) village has a population (2023) of 2,342 and a population density of 1,727 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,470/sq mi). In recent years

7119-451: The government. It considered the question in 1912, and granted funding for preliminary surveys. After petitioning from most municipal councils and various commercial interests in 1913, Parliament agreed to the funding in April 1914. A railway committee was established, and Drammen District proposed that its lines be converted. By the time the issue had reached Parliament in 1923, a conversion of

7232-598: The interior. Ahead of the county council meeting in December 1873 the county governor recommended that an application be sent to the government without a preferred route, but the majority of the county council's members voted in favor the interior alternative. At the time the railway was variously referred to as the County Line and the Jarlsberg Line, both named for the historic countship of Jarlsberg . By 1874

7345-555: The language. No standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or not, is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian. However, in areas where East Norwegian dialects are used, a tendency exists to accept a de facto spoken standard for this particular regional dialect, Urban East Norwegian or Standard East Norwegian (Norwegian: Standard østnorsk ), in which

7458-592: The line between the three towns was the least controversial. North of Tønsberg there was more disunity. One proposal was to run the railway from Vestfossen Station on the Kongsberg Line along the east shore of Eikeren and down to Tønsberg along a route similar to that which the Tønsberg–Eidsfoss Line would later follow. A branch line would then be built to Horten. This alternative allowed the line to run through an area with good access to lumber, which

7571-558: The line did not actually start operations until 7 December. The section from Larvik to Skien was officially opened on 24 November 1882. Construction cost NOK 12 million. The Brevik Line was taken out of the original plans and did not open until 15 October 1895. The Vestfold Line was organized as part of the Norwegian State Railways' Drammen District. At first the line was trafficked with two daily combined passenger and freight trains in each direction, in addition to

7684-469: The line in 2012, making it the busiest regional rail service provided by Vy. Vy provides an included shuttle service from Sandefjord Airport Station to Sandefjord Airport, Torp , which takes four minutes. The Vestfold Line is occasionally used by rerouted freight trains along the Sørlandet Line when that line is closed between Drammen and Nordagutu . Public opinion started debating the need for

7797-604: The line to high speed . The first section, at Skoger , opened in 1995. It was followed by a 13-kilometer (8.1 mi) section past Sande Station in 2001, a passing loop at Nykirke in 2002 and a 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) section including the Jarlsberg Tunnel in Tønsberg in 2011. In 2016 a new railway through Holmestrand, of which most is in the Holmestrandsporten tunnel , opened. In September 2018

7910-623: The line was considered by Parliament in 1875. A political deal was struck, where representatives from the Vestfold area agreed to support the Voss Line while representatives from Hordaland supported the Jarlsberg Line. The decision, taken on 8 June 1875, was made with 76 against 36 votes, and supported the compromise coastal route with an extension to Skien. The line was budgeted to cost NOK 10.7 million, and shares of NOK 3.25 million had been sold. Construction commenced in 1876, under

8023-629: The local population. Around 1030, Christianity came to Scandinavia , bringing with it an influx of Latin borrowings and the Roman alphabet . These new words were related to church practices and ceremonies, although many other loanwords related to general culture also entered the language. The Scandinavian languages at this time are not considered to be separate languages, although there were minor differences among what are customarily called Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian , Old Gutnish , Old Danish, and Old Swedish . The economic and political dominance of

8136-425: The management of Pihl, Cato Maximilian Guldberg and Jørgen Meinich . The line received a minimum curve radius of 180 meters (590 ft) and a maximum gradient of 1:55 (1.8%). The work was attempted halted twice in 1877 by parties issuing complaints. The first stated that the right-of-way should be built in preparation for conversion to standard gauge, the latter was an attempt to stall construction and instead place

8249-486: The mother tongue of around 1% of the population. From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianised Danish by incorporating words that were descriptive of Norwegian scenery and folk life, and adopting a more Norwegian syntax. Knud Knudsen proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with the Dano-Norwegian koiné , known as "cultivated everyday speech." A small adjustment in this direction

8362-417: The oldest form of the runic alphabets . A number of inscriptions are memorials to the dead, while others are magical in content. The oldest are carved on loose objects, while later ones are chiseled in runestones . They are the oldest written record of any Germanic language. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Around 800 AD,

8475-810: The population. Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries who speak Norwegian have the opportunity to use it when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any interpretation or translation costs. Like most of the languages in Europe, Norwegian derives from Proto-Indo-European . As early Indo-Europeans spread across Europe, they became isolated from each other and new languages developed. In northwest Europe,

8588-442: The principles of Norwegian orthography, e.g. zebra in Norwegian is written sebra . Due to historical reasons, some otherwise Norwegian family names are also written using these letters. Some letters may be modified by diacritics : é , è , ê , ó , ò , and ô . In Nynorsk, ì and ù and ỳ are occasionally seen as well. The diacritics are not compulsory, but may in a few cases distinguish between different meanings of

8701-482: The project started on 16 March 2009, and opened on schedule on 7 November 2011. By then Vy had taken delivery of its new Class 74 units, which were put into service on the Vestfold Line. During trial runs a Class 74 unit derailed at Nykirke. The train was totaled, although no-one was seriously injured in the incident. Balthazar Lange was selected as the line's main architect, although some minor buildings were standardized designs by Peter Andreas Blix . Lange worked on

8814-465: The railway and building a highway, but the proposal met diminutive support. A propaganda committee was established in 1931, which in addition to gauge conversion insisted on that the line be rebuilt so it run via Horten. Parliament voted in favor on 26 June 1934 of converting the Vestfold Line. However, with the German occupation of Norway between 1940 and 1945, the Vestfold Line received a low priority and

8927-412: The railway director to carry out surveys through Vestfold, prioritizing it higher than the surveys through Østfold . The country experienced an economic boom starting in 1871, with demands throughout the country for railways to be built. Official planning of a railway through Vestfold to Brevik commenced with a royal resolution on 24 July 1871. In addition to providing a regional rail service to Vestfold,

9040-420: The railway director, Carl Abraham Pihl , had concluded in disfavor of the Vestfold Line and had instead wanted to prioritize the Østfold Line . His view was shared by the cabinet. The break-through came when plans to extend the line onwards to Skien were launched. Pihl estimated the 45-kilometer (28 mi) extension to cost NOK 4.5 million, in addition to a possible branch to Brevik . The construction of

9153-646: The railway would aid export. The main disadvantage was that the route was 20 kilometers (12 mi) longer than via Sande. Alternatively a passage through Sande was proposed, although fourteen different routes were proposed. Three main ones were the inner, outer and combined coastal alternatives. The outer followed the shore of the Oslofjord, would be 111 kilometers (69 mi) and would run through Holmestrand, Horten and Åsgårdstrand before reaching Tønsberg. The combined and inner would be 107 and 102 kilometers (66 and 63 mi), respectively, and both involved building

9266-636: The remainder, including an extension to Skien Station , opened on 23 November 1882. The line was originally variously known as the Drammen–Skien Line ( Drammen–Skienbanen ), the County Line ( Grevskapsbanen ) and the Jarlsberg Line ( Jarlsbergbanen ), until it became known as the Vestfold Line. Horten was served via the now closed 7-kilometer (4.3 mi) Horten Line from Skoppum Station . Three other branches were later built:

9379-406: The rest of the line, scheduled for completion by 2030, will cut travel time from Porsgrunn to Oslo from 2 hours and 45 minutes to 1 hour and 36 minutes. The line could accommodate an estimated 9.5 million passengers per year, and each station could receive between 100 and 500 percent increase in patronage. Despite the plans for the upgrades of the Vestfold Line, there are no current plans for upgrading

9492-460: The route through the interior. Engineer Størmer launched a proposal in 1878 to instead build the line with standard gauge. This was considered by Parliament's Standing Committee on Railways , but voted down with five against four votes. The proposal was voted down in the plenary voting, with only 24 supporting standard gauge. There were few difficulties building the line in the relatively flat landscape between Drammen and Larvik. The largest challenge

9605-750: The script was simplified to the Younger Futhark , and inscriptions became more abundant. At the same time, the beginning of the Viking Age led to the spread of Old Norse to Iceland , Greenland , and the Faroe Islands . Viking colonies also existed in parts of the British Isles , France ( Normandy ), North America, and Kievan Rus . In all of these places except Iceland and the Faroes, Old Norse speakers went extinct or were absorbed into

9718-553: The section onwards to Porsgrunn on 16 December 1971. The port tracks in Holmestrand and Tønsberg were closed in 1980. A major change to the service on the Vestfold Line took place on 29 May 1978, when all smaller stations were closed. Vy introduced its new InterCityExpress concept, which resulted in an increase of patronage by twenty-five percent on the Vestfold Line. From 30 May 1980 the Oslo Tunnel opened, and trains from

9831-606: The southern part of northern Norway ( Nordland county). Today, Nynorsk is the official language of not only four of the nineteen Norwegian counties but also various municipalities in five other counties. NRK , the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, and Nynorsk in 8% (2000). Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board"— Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council)— that determines, after approval from

9944-465: The state railway commission had considered the line and had concluded that it should be built with narrow gauge. Only its chair, Professor Broch, voted in favor of standard gauge, and at the same time recommended that the Drammen Line be converted to the wider gauge. The advantage of 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge was that it would cut construction costs by a third. By then

10057-610: The syllable boundary. The pitch accents (as well as the peculiar phrase accent in the low-tone dialects) give the Norwegian language a "singing" quality that makes it easy to distinguish from other languages. Accent 1 generally occurs in words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse , and accent 2 in words that were polysyllabic. The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The letters c , q , w , x and z are only used in loanwords . As loanwords are assimilated into Norwegian, their spelling might change to reflect Norwegian pronunciation and

10170-401: The three grammatical genders from Old Norse to some extent. The only exceptions are the dialect of Bergen and a few upper class sociolects at the west end of Oslo that have completely lost the feminine gender. According to Marit Westergaard , approximately 80% of nouns in Norwegian are masculine. Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages use a suffix to indicate definiteness of

10283-415: The town councils appointed a railway committee, which asked the county governor on 27 November 1873 to issue shares in the new railway. The county bought shares worth 400,000 Norwegian krone (NOK). Shares for a coastal railway were bought for NOK 4.9 million, twice that of the interior route. The coastal route was expected to pay a dividend of three to four percent, compared to two and a half percent for

10396-479: The track side as one and a half. Holmestrand and Sandefjord have both been extensively rebuilt. The stations were smaller and cheaper with resemblance of Blix' contemporary Moss Station and Fredrikstad Station on the Østfold Line , across the fjord. The only brick stations were Tønsberg Station and Larvik Station , designed in Historicism and Renaissance Revival . In addition to these stations' size, it

10509-475: The two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . Today there are two official forms of written Norwegian, Bokmål (Riksmål) and Nynorsk (Landsmål), each with its own variants. Bokmål developed from

10622-426: The unofficial Høgnorsk is more conservative than Nynorsk and is far closer to Faroese , Icelandic and Old Norse . Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each student gets assigned a native form based on which school they go to, whence the other form (known as Sidemål ) will be a mandatory school subject from elementary school through high school. For instance, a Norwegian whose main language form

10735-420: The upper floor, with the station-master's residence, was smaller than the ground floor. Skoppum Station , where the Horten Line branched off, was given an island platform design, with the station located between the two tracks. This, and the need for space for transshipment , gave the station an odd design, and the island location gave it difficult access from the surroundings. Six stations have been listed by

10848-478: The various plans from late 1879 until July 1882, when he retired as a railway architect. He first designed three similar, town stations: Holmestrand , Sandefjord and Porsgrunn . Designed in Swiss chalet style , they each featured gablets in each end, on both the track and town side. The ends were more anonymous. The design gave a non-symmetrical feel around the end axis, with the town side appearing in two stories and

10961-602: The village of Sande has grown significantly due to many new apartments and stores. The newspaper Sande Avis is published in Sande. Portions of the 1973 Olsenbanden movie Olsenbanden tar gull from were filmed in Sande. Another portion was filmed in Stavern . Finds from the Stone Age indicate that the settlement in the area is up to 6,000–7,000 years old. The village was formerly called Angr (meaning " fjord "), but

11074-447: The vocabulary coincides with Bokmål. Outside Eastern Norway , this spoken variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism , rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history. Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk

11187-427: The word bønder ('farmers') is pronounced using the simpler tone 1, while bønner ('beans' or 'prayers') uses the more complex tone 2. Though spelling differences occasionally differentiate written words, in most cases the minimal pairs are written alike, since written Norwegian has no explicit accent marks. In most eastern low-tone dialects, accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses

11300-568: The word, e.g.: for ('for/to'), fór ('went'), fòr ('furrow') and fôr ('fodder'). Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, most notably ï, ü , á and à . The two legally recognized forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally 'book tongue') and Nynorsk ('new Norwegian'), which are regulated by the Language Council of Norway ( Språkrådet ). Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called Riksmål ('national language'),

11413-410: Was building through Kobbervikdalen . The navvies were uncomfortable building a cutting south of Holmestrand, where the line went through an old cemetery in clay ground and they would often find well-preserved corpses while digging. The section between Larvik and Skien went through considerably more hilly terrain, especially along the shore of Farrisvannet , which included more than twenty tunnels along

11526-451: Was changed further towards Bokmål. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to the 1959 standard. Therefore, a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts use a more conservative standard called Høgnorsk . The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002. While the sound systems of Norwegian and Swedish are similar, considerable variation exists among

11639-480: Was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning. The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute throughout the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson proposed the neutral name Riksmål , meaning 'national language' like Landsmål , and this

11752-505: Was considering financing the project as a public–private partnership paid through a surcharge on tickets fares. Increased funding to railways commenced with the appointment of Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet in 2005. The go-ahead for the 7.7-kilometer (4.8 mi) Barkåker–Tønsberg section, including the Jarlsberg Tunnel , was given by Minister of Transport Liv Signe Navarsete on 31 March 2008, estimated to cost 1.37 billion Norwegian krone (NOK). The plan to make an isolated investment in

11865-512: Was converted to dual gauge . From 16 June 1921 the line, including the branch to Brevik, was entirely standard gauge. This caused the trains from Skien and Porsgrunn to be re-routed via the Bratsberg Line Kongsvinger to Oslo. Trains on the Vestfold Line therefore terminated at Drammen, where passengers had to transfer to the Drammen Line. The low standard became a local political concern. The road director proposed closing

11978-454: Was decisive that local building restrictions banned wooden buildings. The two stations had the same floor plan and design, but Larvik was slightly longer. Their design was inspired from the main farmhouses of Jarlsberg and Larvik . The stations were innovative for their design with a central vestibule with direct access to both the town and track sides, with branches to waiting rooms for second and third class. They were also innovative in that

12091-508: Was hardly maintained. A new decision to convert the gauge was taken by Parliament in March 1946. In 1949 there were twenty-one various versions of Class XXIII and two Class XXVI locomotives used on the Vestfold Line. New 25 kilograms per meter track were installed. However, the foundation was not resized to suit standard gauge. Between 170 and 240 men were employed and the works cost NOK 41 million. The gauge-converted railway, including

12204-453: Was implemented in the first official reform of the Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917. Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. Ivar Aasen , a botanist and self-taught linguist, began his work to create a new Norwegian language at the age of 22. He traveled around the country collecting words and examples of grammar from

12317-535: Was later named after the rectory farm called "Sandvin". About 400 ancient artefacts and Burial mounds have been found in several places around Sande. The rock carvings on Sjøl are the only known carving field from the Bronze Age between Bærum and Sandefjord . The village was the administrative centre of the old Sande Municipality which existed from 1838 until 2020 when the municipality became part of Holmestrand Municipality . The municipality (originally

12430-641: Was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. The name Riksmål is sometimes interpreted as 'state language', but this meaning is secondary at best. (Compare to Danish rigsmål from where the name was borrowed.) After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Riksmål was, in 1929, officially renamed Bokmål (literally 'book language'), and Landsmål to Nynorsk (literally 'new Norwegian'). A proposition to substitute Danish-Norwegian ( dansk-norsk ) for Bokmål lost in parliament by

12543-443: Was opened in 2016 as part of a double-track high-speed upgrading. South of Nykirke, the route, again, crosses over into Tønsberg Municipality in a hinterland passage. Due to practical reasons (avoidance of a terminus), Tønsberg once got a big loop downtown without horseshoe curve function. The next segment to Larvik via Sandefjord runs inland, but never too far away from Skagerrak coastline. Before Larvik station , Numedalslågen

12656-621: Was set up run to Brevik, where there was a corresponding steamship service to Kristiansand . Vy took delivery of five Class V steam locomotives, manufactured by Motala Verkstad and four lager tender Class XI locomotive built by Dübs & Company . The latter were mostly used for the express trains. The first compound locomotive , Class XIII , was taken into use in 1895. The next two were not compound: two Baldwin Locomotive Works locomotives were delivered in 1898. They remained in service until 1908, when they were transferred to

12769-539: Was taken into use on 15 October 1956, then the segment from Larvik to Tønsberg on 20 May 1957 and finally the segment from Tønsberg to Drammen on 1 December 1957. Vy reallocated most and later all of their El 8 locomotives to Drammen District, resulting in them being frequently used on the Vestfold Line. Class 66 multiple units were introduced on the Vestfold Line on 28 May 1967. They ran on trains to Skien until 3 June 1973, after which it only served to Larvik. They were retired on 21 May 1977. El 11 locomotives were used on

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