Røa Line
Smestad was the first terminus of the Røa Line.
Info
Type	Rapid transit
System	Oslo T-bane
Termini	Majorstuen Østerås
No. of stations	11
Operation
Opened	November 17, 1912
Owner	Kollektivtransportproduksjon
Operator(s)	Oslo T-banedrift
Rolling stock	T1000 MX3000
Technical
Line length	7.5 km
No. of tracks	Double
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Electrification	750 V DC (third rail)
Operating speed	70 km/h
Highest elevation	142.4 m
Route map |- | colspan="2" | Legend Østerås Lijordet Eiksmarka Ekraveien Røa Hovseter Holmen Makrellbekken Smestad Borgen Majorstuen to the Common Tunnel

The Røa Line (Norwegian: Røabanen) is a rapid transit line on the Oslo T-bane which runs from downtown Oslo, Norway to Østerås in Bærum. It serves neighborhoods such as Røa in Western Oslo, and some suburbs in northern Bærum.

The first part of the line from Majorstuen to Smestad was originally constructed as a branch line of the Holmenkoll Line and opened November 17, 1912. The line was opened to Røa on January 24, 1935, whence it got its current name. On December 22, 1948 the line crossed the river Lysakerelven into Bærum and was extended to Grini. The next extensions were to Lijordet on December 3, 1951, and finally to its present end station at Østerås on November 16, 1972.^[1]

Many years before the extension into Bærum, the intention was to construct a line via Østerås and Øverland to Lommedalen in eastern Bærum. At the time of the last extension, the original schedule was to build rails to Hosle; this did not materialize and the construction stopped at Østerås.^[1]

In 1995 the line was overhauled. As a result, the stations Heggeli, Sørbyhaugen, Huseby skole and Grini were closed. In addition, the Røa Line did no longer stop at Volvat station; the Kolsås Line did so for two more years before the station closed altogether.^[2]

Like the other western lines of the T-bane network, the Røa Line was constructed with overhead lines, short platforms only capable of handling 2-car trains, and numerous level crossings. Demand for increased capacity of the line led to the upgrading of the line to so-called metro standard in 1995. The overhead lines were replaced with third rail, the level crossings were removed or replaced with bridges, and the platforms were extended to accommodate 6-car trains, and the signaling moved inside the cabs with automatic train control. The trains running on the Røa Line on the west side now run through the Common Tunnel through the city center and then on the Furuset Line to Ellingsrudåsen on the east side as line 2 of the network. Trains are operated using the fairly old third rail only T1000 type stock, though they are in the process of being replaced by the brand new MX3000 stock.

References