After the line was closed, the section from Sannidal to Kragerø, roughly 7 kilometers (4.3 mi), was demolished to make way for a road.

[2] The track area at Kragerø Station has been converted to a parking lot, and the engine shed has been demolished.

The decision was part of a larger plan to build the Sørlandet Line from Kongsberg to Kristiansand.

This was part of a major decision which would also see the closing of the Numedal, Valdres, Hardanger, Flekkefjord and Skreia Lines.

[7] However, on 25 March the Railway Council voted against closing the line, stating local opposition against the proposals.

[8] On 20 April 1988, Minister of Transport Kjell Borgen presented a plan which would approve the closing of the lines.

[11] On 30 October 1989, 70 to 80 demonstrators from Nature and Youth,[11] about half of which were locals,[12] blocked the entrance to Tangeheia Tunnel in civil disobedience to hinder demolish of the track.

Sheriff Gisle Johnson arrested five of the demonstrators, all male and from out-of-town, and four with long hair, and were fined NOK 10,000 each.

During the evening, a mob of locals started attacking the remaining demonstrators with Molotov cocktails.

[13] The demonstrators remained at Sannidal for a week, and had among other things meetings with Minister of Transport Lars Gunnar Lie.

[11] On 3 November, NSB announced that they would cease demolishing the upper part of the line, although by then on the lower section demolition had already begun.

[14] In September 1992, NSB's director-general Kristian Rambjør stated that closing the line had been a mistake.

[17] In 1997, the camping ground at Sannidal started renting out 15 draisines on the line, but the operations stopped in 2005.

[18][19] In the late 2000s, local forest owners started campaigning to remove the remaining tracks.

It is estimated to cost NOK 3.8 billion and would allow the travel time from Kragerø to Oslo of 2 hours.