Iron Ore Traffic

The reason this railway exists can be summed up in two words: iron ore. More than 120 years ago, the Ofoten Railway was built to carry iron ore from the mining areas around Kiruna in northern Sweden, across the mountains to the ice-free harbour of Narvik. And that is still its most important purpose today. Mining has shaped Kiruna for generations, just as the railway and harbour have shaped Narvik. Every day, enormous iron ore trains make their way across the border and down the Ofoten Railway towards the coast. A fully loaded ore train consists of 68 wagons and is around 750 metres long. Altogether, the train can weigh around 8,500 tonnes, including approximately 6,800 tonnes of iron ore products. To move that enormous weight, the trains are hauled by powerful IORE electric locomotives, operating in pairs. With a combined tractive effort of 1,200 kilonewtons, they are among the most powerful electric locomotives ever built. At the harbour in Narvik, the ore is transferred from the trains to large ships and transported onwards to customers around the world. So if you see one of these enormous trains during our journey, you are looking at the reason the Ofoten Railway was built in the first place. The technology has changed enormously since the first trains travelled along this route in 1902, but the purpose remains much the same: carrying iron ore from the mines to the sea – and from there, out into the world.