Talk:Jæren Line

Name

According to Jernbaneverket the (English) name of the line is Jærbanen.[1]. The only google hits for "Stavanger Commuter Rail" are two Wikipedia entries including this one, both added by User:Arsenikk. Btd (talk) 05:59, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I do see your point. I was in doubt about the move; after the last rebranding of NSB some five-or-so years ago NSB chose to unbrand all the local lines, branding them all as NSB lokaltog (NSB local trains or commuter trains). Prior to this they used Trønderbanen and Jærbanen actively, but now they do not. Another aspect is that Jærbanen is a term used on the railway line from Stavanger to Egersund, that in 1944 became part of Sørlandsbanen; my concern was that the article had evolved from an article about the former railway line to an article about the current commuter trains. Commuter rail is in my opinion a good translation for local train. Arsenikk ^(talk) 08:46, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I see. The service might be branded by NSB as 59 (Lokaltog) Stavanger-Egersund, but NSB is just the service operator. There is still a railway called Jærbanen (see JBV), and although it is part of Sørlandsbanen as a whole, it's not "former". The same applies to many other Norwegian lines. NSB's English site uses the name "The Jæren Railway" for the line.[2] If you want to keep this as an article for the rail service as opposed to the railway line, the current translation/title is original and should be replaced (and iw-links should be removed). Jærbanen is not on NSB's commuter line map, and the official service name seems to be just "59 Stavanger-Egersund", or "NSB Lokaltog Stavanger-Egersund". I think it would be simpler to keep the line article with complete line map, history and mention all the services (local, regional and freight). Btd (talk) 13:54, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

You have convinced me, and I will change the name back; I guess this article is about the line and not the service.

I will however continue the discussion on some of the topics (I buy most, but not all your arguments). First, on the English Wikipedia we have to follow WP:ENGLISH, that simplified states that we should translate certain types of names; for instance while company names are never translated, all government agencies have their English names used (or are supposed to at least). Most transit systems have translated names, for instance Skåne commuter rail and Copenhagen Metro. Due to this we take freedoms to translate, also unofficial, names to English, for instance Stavanger Station (not Stavanger stasjon). This makes naming a lot more complex than it could be, but we just have to live with it. That said, the naming of Jærbanen, Sørlandsbanen etc and not Jæren Line or Jæren Railway and Sørland Line or Sørland Railway does brech this policy. But consistence takes overhand, and by now it has really become a mess to clean up, and there is the Line versus Railway to consider.

Thanks for the input, Btd; I appreciate it when people care about what I am doing—even if I am just messing things up. Looks like you have put in some good work into the Norwegian Jærbanen article. Keep up the good work :) Arsenikk ^(talk) 21:59, 9 June 2008 (UTC)