Majorstuen Station

Majorstuen Station is one of the most important public transport hubs in Oslo, located in the Majorstuen neighbourhood west of the city centre. The station opened on 31 May 1898 as the original terminus of the Holmenkollen Line, which at the time operated more like a suburban tramway than the modern metro. Its importance increased when the Smestad Line opened from Majorstuen in 1912, and in 1928 the tracks were extended underground from Majorstuen to Nationaltheatret, connecting the western suburban lines more directly with central Oslo. The large neoclassical Majorstuhuset was completed beside the station in 1934, the same year the Sognsvann Line opened. Today every line of the Oslo Metro passes through Majorstuen before the western routes divide in different directions, while trams and buses stop immediately outside. Unlike the shared metro stations farther into the city centre, Majorstuen remains above ground, with open platforms and tracks clearly visible from the surrounding streets, giving the station a particularly recognisable place in the Oslo cityscape.

Majorstuen Station appears in Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole (2026). The Netflix series was filmed extensively on location in Oslo, using more than 160 locations over 113 shooting days, and Majorstuen is given an unusually dramatic role rather than simply appearing as background scenery. The station is central to the accident that opens the first episode and leaves Harry Hole carrying a burden of guilt that still affects him when the main story begins five years later.

In Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole (2026), Majorstuen Station appears in the opening sequence of the first episode, “36 Seconds”. Harry Hole and his colleague Lars Haaland are pursuing a bank robber through Oslo when their police car approaches Majorstuen at high speed. Haaland repeatedly urges Harry to slow down, but the car collides violently with an oncoming tram. The impact sends the police car flying off the street and down into the T-bane tracks at Majorstuen Station. Harry survives the crash, but Haaland is killed. The series then jumps forward five years, with Harry still troubled by the accident while obsessively revisiting the bank robbery connected to the pursuit. What initially looks like a spectacular action sequence therefore becomes an important part of Harry’s character and the wider story: the death of his colleague, his guilt over what happened and the unresolved robbery all continue to follow him long after the wrecked car has been removed from the tracks at Majorstuen.

Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole (2026)

Majorstuen Station (2026)

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