Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 5, 2015

The Grorud Line (Grorudbanen) is a 13.0 km line on the Oslo Metro between Tøyen and Vestli in Oslo, Norway. Built as a mix of underground, at ground level and as an elevated line, it runs through the northern part of Groruddalen, serving such neighborhoods as Grorud, Romsås and Stovner. Line 5 runs along the line eight times per hour. The westernmost part of the line, from Tøyen to Carl Berners plass, is also used by Line 6, which continues along the Ring Line. The two will be connected via the Løren Line when construction concludes. With 40,000 daily riders, the Grorud Line is the busiest branch of the metro. Proposals for an urban railway through the upper parts of Groruddalen were first articulated in public documents in 1919. Planning started in the late 1940s and the line was politically approved in 1954, along with three other metro lines and the Common Tunnel. Construction started in 1956 and was part of a process to transform Groruddalen into a residential area. The first part of the Grorud Line, from Tøyen to Grorud, was opened on 16 October 1966. The rest of the line opened in three stages: to Rommen on 3 March 1974, to Stovner on 18 August and to Vestli on 21 December 1975. The Ring Line connection opened on 22 August 2006 and since 2013 the Løren Line has been under construction.