 An application to the Ministry of Labour for engineering assistance to plan the route was denied in 1892.In 1874, Aust-Agder County Municipality (then Nedenes) established a railway committee as a response to the national ambitions of creating a Vestland Line (later named the Sørland Line) which would connect Rogaland and Agder to Oslo and Eastern Norway.There was controversy regarding the choice of route; while many proposals existed, the two main was an inland route and a coastal route.