High-speed rail in Norway
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Currently, the only high speed train service in Norway is on Gardermobanen, a 60 kilometer line between Oslo Central Station and Eidsvoll via Oslo Airport. The main service on this route is Flytoget, commuting between Oslo Airport and the metropolitan areas of Oslo at speeds of up to 210 km/h (130 mph). It is going to be extended westwards to include the city of Drammen in 2008, not at high speed (source). This section is also used by express- and regional trains between Oslo and Eidsvoll.
[edit] Future plans
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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There is also a political climate for building more high speed railway services in Norway. Currently, the VWI Stuttgart (Institute of Transportation Research at the University of Stuttgart, Germany) are doing an analysis on the possibilities for building high speed railway services between the major cities of Norway, and between Norway and Sweden, for the Norwegian National Railway Administration, Jernbaneverket.
Though the initiative to the analysis itself is an evidence of a promising political climate for high speed railways, the analysis has been heavily criticized by experts for not being done by a recognised competence on this area, for being based on inaccurate facts, and for using gross miscalculations of important datas, like potential passenger numbers and potential costs of building new high speed tracks.
The conclusions so far include that the most interesting corridors are Oslo-Gothenburg (in Sweden) and Oslo-Trondheim (through the Østerdalen valley). The analysis is expected to be completed in April 2007.
[edit] Other suggestions
There are also several independent initiatives for high speed railways in Norway:
- Den sørnorske høyhastighetsringen [1] is a political initiative for building a high speed railway ring that will include the major cities Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand, in addition to the densely populated Vestfold region. This proposal wants to use the exsisting corridors of Bergensbanen and anlong the south coast.
- Norsk Bane [2] is a private initiative for a high speed railway network that will cover large parts of Southern Norway. It has several lines that can be considered independently, but at its greatest extent it will include the major cities of Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand and Ålesund with a hub in Oslo. In addition there will also be a line through the Vestfold region and lines both west and east of the Mjøsa lake. This project will however need political support before it can be started.
[edit] Pros and cons
Compared to continental European countries, Norway is a lot more sparsely populated and quite mountaineous. On the one hand this causes problems filling up trains, especially compared to other European projects and will give difficulties reaching nessesary passenger numbers. On the other hand Norwegians travel considerably more long-distance than other Europeans, for instance three of Europes 11 busiest air routes are within Norway. Also, the long-distance road network of Norway is in relativly bad condition, making rail travel even more competitive. Estimates for construction costs have shown that building in Norway is considerably cheaper than on the Continent, due to the ability to build tracks straight on bedrock. Also expropriation are lower since most of the corridors will go through unpopulated areas.
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