Travelling by train from Luleå, Sweden, to Narvik, Norway, is an 8 hour undertaking. But in reality, it is not as daunting as it might sound, to some, like me 🙂
Boarding in Luleå, was straight forward. As this was the starting point, for the InterCity train #96, it was already there, when I arrived, a bit early. There were almost no one on the train. After getting settled in, in my single seat, I still had time to pop by the grill / kiosk at the station for one last Piggelin, a tutti frutti popsicle. This trip was about reliving childhood memories 😃
When the train left, on time, I figured this was going to be a breeze – a single seat, and barely anybody else in the carriage. I had been reluctant towards the many hours I had to spend on board, but now I had lots of space to move around. How long was I in paradise? Not long.
In Boden, the hoards came. They, who opted for the 1 change route, or, most likely, came from another town south of Luleå, showed up. Watching them get off their train, on the other side of the platform, looking all stressed out, trying to figure out where to go next, in the few minutes they had, before rushing onto our train, to find space for their luggage, I was very happy it wasn’t something I had to experience. When the train left the station, it was packed. If you can go on the direct route, do it, even though it might be tempting to break the trip into two, “shorter”, legs. FYI, Boden train station is small.
With all on board, we were ready to embark on, what I’ve heard people call, one of the best train rides they’ve taken. Do I agree? Nah… Honestly, there’s really not much to see. There are “longer” stops at some train stations, but never looked to be in the centre of villages, so nothing more than stepping out onto the platform to stretch your legs. We did pass the Arctic Circle. Just me and another passenger noticed the sign fly by. I was expecting it, but when Google Maps said we had passed it a while ago, and then, all of a sudden, it popped up, I wasn’t prepared. The best part of the ride, began when we reached the mountainous area of Abisko National Park. A bit more interesting landscape to travel in, and now you stop at the tiny, remote, somewhat charming, train stations, from when the navvies finished the tracks in 1902. You also pass the navvy graveyard (Rallarkirkegården). Keep a look out for a clearing in the woods, with white crosses. It will be on the right hand side. The last section of the trip is descending the mountains (Bjørnfjell) towards Narvik. Now the tourists went ballistic. Cameras out. Finding windows to open, and take photos out of. At one point, I had a lady, more or less, on my lap. I’ll easily admit it was beautiful, the best view we had on the ride, the fjord and the mountains in sunny weather, but there is a limit to how many photos you need of the same thing.
All in all, the trip went by quickly. Surprisingly, the 8 hours felt likt 3-4 hours, so no reason to be apprehensive towards the travel time.
Even though the ticket said otherwise, there was a kiosk on board. It had food, drinks, and snacks.
At the border, the police walked through the carriages, but no checking of tickets and passports.
The train station in Narvik is a steep walk from the town centre, and close to a bus stop for onwards travel, like towards Tromsø. The train station in Luleå is at the east end of the main street, circa. Want a hotel near the train station? This is it. Just across the road.
For this trip, I booked my ticket online, on SJ (Svenska järnbanan, Swedish Railway). There were two day train routes to choose from. One direct, which I went for, and one including one change. Going direct meant 7 hours and 50 minutes on board – an hour longer than the last leg on the other option. Whichever you choose, in the end, you’ll be on the same train. You’ll leave in the morning (direct route: 10:40 am), and arrive in the early evening (06:30 pm). The night train was not running on the date I was travelling, due to track works. From what I’ve seen previously, the impression is, there are often track works in Sweden, which cause cancellations, delays, re-routing, and replacement buses on parts of the journey. Since I was travelling solo, and wanted a bit of space, on the long trip, I wanted a single seat, if possible. In that regard, I found the booking process a bit confusing. As there’s no seat map to choose from, I became unsure whether or not the train had singles. Seat options are a) randomly allocated (you will be given the carriage number, seat number, type of seat, and placement), b) choose type of seat (like single, table, accessibility etc) and placement (window, aisle, middle seat), and c) choose a specific seat (you need to fill in carriage number and seat number). In hindsight, it really wasn’t an issue, just me who couldn’t wrap my head around the choices / info I was presented 🙂 I did end up calling customer service, but, it turned out, there I got wrong information, which was: there are no single seats on the train, just two seats facing another two seats, with a table between them. Have a look at the end of this post, and you’ll find a seating chart. There are two single seats only in each carriage, so if you want one of them, book early. If you want “my” single seat, it was carriage 17, seat 75, aisle and window. My 2nd class ticket came in at 575 SEK.
To be precise, the Iron Ore Line (Malmbanan) is the train route from Boden, Sweden, to Riksgränsen (the border), but informally includes Ofotbanen (Ofoten Line) from Riksgränsen to Narvik, Norway, and the Swedish train line from Luleå to Boden. Narvik-Luleå is 473 kilometres.
Inside the train
This was not my first time crossing the Norway-Sweden border by train. I’ve been on overnight trips from Oslo to Gothenburg a couple of times. Usually it is a straight forward 3.5 hour ride, but once there suddenly were some problems, and in Trollhättan (known filming location) we were ushered into buses, which took us the rest of the distance. This stretch is serviced by Vy (Norwegian train company). Tickets can be booked online. If bought on the train, it will be more expensive. Seat reservation? If you like. This is very similar to travelling Norway by train. Crossing the border is the only difference. The train station in Gothenburg is in the city centre.
An alternative to the train, is the bus, which takes about the same time.
