The Randers–Aalborg railway line () is an long

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

which runs through the

historical region History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Himmerland Himmerland is a peninsula in northeastern Jutland, Denmark. It is delimited to the north and the west by the Limfjord, to the east by the Kattegat, and to the south by the Mariager Fjord. The largest city is Aalborg; smaller towns include Hobro, ...

between the cities of

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

. It constitutes a section of the East Jutland longitudinal railway line (), the through route along the east coast of the

Jutland Peninsula Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

from the German border at

Padborg Padborg () is a southern Danish border town with a population of 4,318 (1 January 2025)Frederikshavn Frederikshavn () is a Danish town in Frederikshavn municipality, Region Nordjylland, on the northeast coast on the North Jutlandic Island in northern Denmark. Its name translates to "Frederik's harbor". It was originally named Fladstrand. The ...

in North Jutland. The railway opened in 1869. From 1940 to 1953, the original

single track Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

railway line was converted to

. The line is owned and maintained by Rail Net Denmark and served with

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

s operated by the

Danish State Railways DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Danish train operating company. It's also the largest train operating company in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on ...

(DSB). The northernmost section from to is also served by the Aalborg Commuter Rail operated by

Nordjyske Jernbaner Nordjyske Jernbaner (abbreviated NJ) is a Danish railway company operating in Region Nordjylland. The company was formed in 2001 as a merger of Hjørring Privatbaner (HP) and Skagensbanen (SB) and Hirtshalsbanen (HB). Headquartered in Hjørri ...

History

Illustreret Tidende - Aalborg Station 1869

The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

Peto, Brassey and Betts was granted concession to build the Randers–Aalborg line on 18 March 1861. Work on the railway line started in October 1865, and was completed in the late summer of 1869. It was opened on 18 September 1869 in the presence of

King Christian IX Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswi ...

. Operations on the line commenced the following day with three trains daily in each direction. The line was operated by the

state-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

railway company A rail transport company is a company active within the rail industry. It can be: * a manufacturing company, * a rail transport operations, railway undertaking providing services through operating rolling stock, * a railway infrastructure manager ...

'' De jysk-fyenske Jernbaner'' (''the Funen and Jutland Railways''), which merged with '' De sjællandske Statsbaner'' (''the State Railways of Zealand'') in 1885 to form one national railway company, '' De danske Statsbaner'' (''the Danish State Railways''). During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

traffic on the line became busy enough to be beyond the capacity of a single track. As a consequence, it was decided already in 1918 to expand the single track to a

. However, the duplication work was only completed in different sections between 1940 and 1956, with the section from to being the last to be completed on 1 June 1956. In 2003, the Aalborg Commuter Rail, a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

service in and near Aalborg, started operating on the northernmost section of the railway line from Skørping to Aalborg. In 2017, operation of the

regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

services from Aalborg station to Skørping station were transferred from DSB to the local

Stations

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

Banedanmark
–

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

responsible for

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

and

traffic control Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning, control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight. Traff ...

of most of the Danish railway network
DSB
– largest Danish

train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...

Nordjyske Jernbaner
– Danish

operating in

North Jutland Region The North Jutland Region (), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an Regions of Denmark, administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, 2007 Danish municipal refor ...

Danske Jernbaner
– website with information on

railway history The history of rail transport began before the beginning of the common era. It can be divided into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of track material and motive power used. Ancient systems The Post Track, a prehisto ...

in Denmark
Nordjyllands Jernbaner
– website with information on