text: jæren commuter rail the jæren commuter rail ( norwegian : nsb lokaltog jæren , previously ) is a commuter train service operated along the westernmost part of the sørland line in jæren , norway . it is operated by the norwegian state railways ( nsb ) with nine class 72 electric multiple units . the service acts as a commuter rail connecting stavanger to its suburbs , including sandnes , and to towns further south , in klepp , time , and . although passenger services have operated along the lines since 1878 , the commuter train service was inaugurated in 1992 with a significant increase of service , using existing rolling stock . the system has an annual ridership of 2 . 5 million passengers to date . the service runs from stavanger station to egersund station , a distance of 75 kilometers ( 47 mi ) . it has four hourly services from stavanger to sandnes station , of which two continue to nærbø station and one to egersund . the section from stavanger to sandnes is double track , while the rest is single track . the infrastructure is owned by the norwegian national rail administration and the line is also used by intercity and freight trains . several proposed upgrades to the system have been made system , such as a branch along the ålgård line , a branch to stavanger airport , sola and reestablishing double track from sandnes to egersund . route the commuter rail service runs along the full length of the jæren line , the old name of the section of the sørland line from stavanger to egersund . the line is standard gauge , electrified at 15 kv 16 2 ⁄ 3 hz ac and owned by the norwegian national rail administration . the line starts as double track at stavanger station , which is located in the central business district of stavanger and is the terminal station of the sørland line . the station is manned , serves intercity trains and is 10 minutes from the city 's ferry terminal . paradis station is 1 . 4 kilometers ( 0 . 87 mi ) from stavanger and serves the residential areas of and . around the station there will be established new office real estate . the station is within walking distance of stavanger university hospital and upper secondary school , and is adjacent to the offices of the county governor . station is 4 . 1 kilometers ( 2 . 5 mi ) from stavanger and serves a mixed residential and commercial area , including hetland upper secondary school . jåttåvågen station serves a new neighborhood and is within a minutes walk of viking stadion , the home ground of tippeligaen side viking fk , upper secondary school and the future offices of aker solutions . gausel station is located from 9 kilometers ( 5 . 6 mi ) from stavanger and serves a mixed commercial and residential area . in addition to being next to the offices of , the station is the main interchange with buses towards forus , which contains the offices of companies such as statoil , telenor and bp , and stavanger airport , sola . sandnes sentrum station ( " sandnes center " ) is the first station located within sandnes , and is located on a viaduct above the city center . located 14 . 8 kilometers ( 9 . 2 mi ) from stavanger , it is also served by intercity trains and staffed . the station is the southern end of the double track . sandnes station is 15 . 4 kilometers ( 9 . 6 mi ) from stavanger and is located slightly south of city center of sandnes . some of the commuter trains terminate at sandnes . ganddal station is 18 . 5 kilometers ( 11 . 5 mi ) from stavanger and serves the mixed residential and industrial area of ganddal . the ålgård line branches off at the station . station is the first in klepp and is located 22 . 4 kilometers ( 13 . 9 mi ) from stavanger . klepp station is located 24 . 8 kilometres ( 15 . 4 mi ) from stavanger and serves the municipal center of klepp . bryne station is the only station in time and located at bryne , 29 . 8 kilometers ( 18 . 5 mi ) from stavanger . the station is staffed and also serves intercity trains . nærbø station is the first station in and serves the municipal center of nærbø . some commuter trains terminate at nærbø . station is located 43 . 1 kilometers ( 26 . 8 mi ) from stavanger , while station is located 40 . 2 kilometers ( 25 . 0 mi ) from stavanger . station serves the residential area of and is located 54 . 2 kilometers ( 33 . 7 mi ) from stavanger . ogna station serves the residential area of ogna and is located 58 . 4 kilometers ( 36 . 3 mi ) from stavanger . station is located 60 . 4 kilometers ( 37 . 5 mi ) from stavanger and serves the fishing village of . station is the first station in and located 66 . 8 kilometers ( 41 . 5 mi ) from stavanger . egersund station is the terminal station of the line , and all remaining commuter trains stop there . the station is staffed and also served by intercity trains , and has correspondence with buses . the station located 74 . 7 kilometers ( 46 . 4 mi ) from stavanger is about 10 minutes north of the city center of egersund . service the operating deficits are covered through subsidies by the norwegian ministry of transport and communications . the trackage and other infrastructure is owned by the government agency norwegian national rail administration , while the rolling stock is owned and operated by the norwegian state railways ( nsb ) . the service between stavanger and sandnes operate with a fixed schedule every 15 minutes . of the trains to sandnes , half continue onwards to nærbø , giving a 30 - minute headway . one train per hour operate all the way to egersund . on weekends and late evenings , there is a reduced service . travel time from stavanger to sandnes is 19 minutes , from stavanger to nærbø is 37 minutes , and from stavanger to egersund is 1 hour and 7 minutes . rolling stock class 72 is a series of 36 four - car electric multiple units built by ansaldobreda . the units are permanently coupled together using jacobs bogies . each unit has a power output of 2 , 550 kilowatts ( 3 , 420 hp ) , allowing a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour ( 99 mph ) . the trains are 85 . 57 meters ( 280 . 7 ft ) long and weigh 156 tonnes ( 154 long tons ; 172 short tons ) , and have seating for 310 passengers and one toilet . the trains have better accessibility than the older units and unlike their predecessors are equipped with an electronic public information system . nine of the units are used on the jæren commuter rail , while the remaining 25 units are used on the oslo commuter rail . retired class 69 is a series of 88 two and three - car electric multiple units built by strømmens værksted between 1970 and 1993 . a motor car has a power output of 1 , 188 kilowatts ( 1 , 593 hp ) , allowing a speed of 130 kilometers per hour ( 81 mph ) . each car is 24 . 85 meters ( 81 . 5 ft ) long , with motor cars weighing 64 . 0 to 53 . 9 tonnes ( 63 . 0 to 53 . 0 long tons ; 70 . 5 to 59 . 4 short tons ) and end cars weighing down to 28 . 8 tonnes ( 28 . 3 long tons ; 31 . 7 short tons ) . typical seating capacity is 96 passengers in the motor cars and 112 passengers in the end cars . the class was delivered in four versions , named a through d. after the initial delivery of fifteen in 1970 and 1971 , twenty were delivered in 1974 and 1975 . these were designed to operate on longer sections and were equipped with only one door per car . this turned out to extend stopping time too much , and the c and d versions were delivered with two doors per car . from 1975 to 1977 , nsb took delivery of fourteen and from 1983 to 1993 thirty - nine . the latter is distinguishable because of its different front . nsb operates both two- and three - car sets , and up to three units can be run in multiple , allowing nsb to operate any train length from two to nine cars . eighty - two units remain in service ; although they have been retired from the jæren commuter rail , nsb still uses them on the oslo commuter rail , the bergen commuter rail and the arendal line . history the jæren line opened as a narrow gauge railway between stavanger and egersund on 1 march 1878 . the railway was extended from egersund to flekkefjord on 1 november 1904 as the flekkefjord line . on 21 december 1924 , the jæren line 's only branch opened , the ålgård line from ganddal to ålgård . on 1 march 1944 , the jæren line became part of the sørland line , when the line opened between sira and kristiansand and the jæren line was converted to standard gauge . the sørland line from egersund to stavanger was opened as electric on 3 june 1956 . this resulted in class 65 and class 67 electric multiple units being used on local trains on the line . in 1960 , the services were replaced by class 68 units . the section from stavanger to sandnes became the first part of the norwegian railway network , after the ofoten line , to centrally controlled . the centralized traffic control opened from stavanger to sandnes on 20 march 1964 , and from sandnes to egersund on 7 july . the whole line received partial automatic train control on 31 december 1986 . the commuter rail system was introduced from 1 january 1992 , after an agreement between nsb , rogaland county municipality and the six municipalities along the line . nsb introduced new class 69 multiple units , while the county municipality introduced a fare coordination with the corresponding bus services . the increase in service involved 15 departures per direction per day , and the travel time from stavanger to egersund was reduced from 80 to 55 minutes . in addition , nsb started with a half - hour headway between stavanger and sandnes . a new station , sandnes sentrum , was opened in the city center of sandnes at the time the new service started . nsb stated that the goal was to increase the daily ridership from 2 , 900 to 5 , 000 passengers by 1994 . the stations were also upgraded , including new sheds . the train radio system was installed between 1993 and 1996 . the service was a success , and nsb received a 112 % increase in ridership the first year . this resulted in the company introducing a similar service between trondheim and innherred , the trøndelag commuter rail , in 1993 . in 1993 , nsb won statens , among other things for the new sheds on the jæren line . by 1995 , ridership was up 150 % from before the service started . in 1997 , nsb announced that they would order 36 new electric multiple units , which would among other things replace the aging trains on the jæren commuter rail . the new class 72 trains were put into service on 8 august 2002 , several years behind schedule . in april 2004 , the rail administration opened station , which was located close to viking stadion , the new home ground of tippeligaen side viking fk . by 2005 , ridership had increased to 2 . 5 million per year , up 278 % from 1991 , giving a 7 % market share in the corridor . to further increase capacity and regularity , the norwegian national rail administration decided to rebuild the section from stavanger to sandnes to double track . at the same time , a new freight terminal was to be built at ganddal , meaning that the section would only have to be shared with intercity trains . the upgrade involved closing station , and building three new stations : paradis , jåttåvågen and gausel . construction was started in 2006 and was estimated to be completed by 2009 . it was estimated to cost 2 . 2 billion norwegian krone . from april to november 2009 , the section from ganddal to stavanger was closed while the last part of the upgrade was completed . the new line was opened on 16 november 2009 and from 14 december , the 15 - minute headway was introduced between stavanger and sandnes . future the national rail administration has developed a plan for possible expansion of the commuter rail . the main possibilities have been discussed : rebuilding the section from sandnes to egersund to double track , taking back into use the ålgård line , which branches off at ganddal , and building a new branch from south of gausel to stavanger airport , sola . an alternative to several of the options is a light rail , which may or may not be built as a tram - train , which would use parts of the existing double track between stavanger and sandnes . the ålgård line is a 12 . 24 - kilometer ( 7 . 61 mi ) long railway which branches from the sørland line at ganddal . it runs via foss - eikeland and figgjo to ålgård , and was opened on 20 december 1924 . passenger services were terminated on 1 november 1955 , making it the line with the most frequent passenger traffic in norway to be closed . freight trains operated until 1988 . the first 3 kilometers ( 1 . 9 mi ) are used for freight trains to access a cement factory . the line has officially been closed , but has not been abandoned . the national rail administration retains ownership and can in the future renovate the line for operation . the annual traffic potential for the ålgård line is 600 , 000 passengers . plans call for stations at vagle , figgjo , and ålgård . it is possible to operate the trains that currently terminate at sandnes to ålgård without new infrastructure investments to the sørland line . however , the line would need a full upgrade , including new tracks , electric system and signaling . ålgård is also a good location for a park and ride for european route e39 . a branch to sola has been considered to allow the trains to operate to sola and the airport . the line would branch from the sørland line south of gausel , and be built so trains from the branch could run both northwards and southwards . proposed stations include the airport , , forus west , statoil 's head office and possibly the shopping center . this would give a travel time of 17 minutes from the airport to the city center , and 10 minutes from the airport to sandnes . this route has , however , also been proposed as part of the light rail system . it would give about 2 . 5 million annual passengers . plans have been made that would either double or triple the frequency on all the services on the existing commuter rail network . however , increased frequency south of sandnes will require double track . should the frequency be doubled , double track would have to be built to where the current service to nærbø terminates . plans call for these trains to possibly be extended to either or . should the frequency be tripled , double track would be needed all the way to egersund . parts of the jæren line is straight enough to permit speeds between 200 and 250 kilometers per hour ( 120 and 160 mph ) . however , several shorter parts need to be rebuilt to allow this , particularly between egersund and ogna , and from bryne to ganddal . in particular , the section from ogna to egersund would probably have to follow an all - new route , should it be rebuilt to double track . the effect of higher maximum speeds is greatest for intercity trains , as the commuter trains have so frequent stops they have little to gain from the increased speeds . when the jæren line was built , the station in egersund was located in the city center . with the opening of the sørland line , the station was moved 1 kilometre ( 0 . 62 mi ) north of the city center . egersund station has been proposed moved back to its old location for the commuter rail , giving egersund two stations : one for commuter trains and one for regional trains . the right - of - way still exists for this route , making construction easy . a new sørland line has also been proposed , which would run south instead of north from egersund . this would mean that a city center location for egersund station would be better for intercity trains as well . rogaland county municipality is in the planning process of building a light rail in greater stavanger . the initial plans call for a y - shaped service which could be operational by 2018 , with possibilities for further expansion . as of 2010 , the plans call for a 16 . 2 kilometres ( 10 . 1 mi ) line from stavanger to sandnes , and a 7 . 7 or 8 . 8 kilometres ( 4 . 8 or 5 . 5 mi ) branch to the airport . the travel time from sandnes to stavanger would be 29 minutes , and is therefore a supplement to the commuter rail . the light rail would have interchange with the light rail at stavanger , paradis , jåttåvågen , gausel and sandnes sentrum . several new branches of the light rail have been proposed for later construction .