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TRANSPORT

Longest railway tunnel in the Nordics to be officially opened on Monday

The Follo Line (Follobanen) railway tunnel project has been completed, and now commuters can enjoy 11-minute-long trips from Oslo to Ski through the Nordic region's longest railway tunnel.

Published: 11 December 2022 13:52 CET
Blix tunnel
On Sunday, the first trains departed on the new section between Oslo and Ski. Photo by Nicolas Tourrenc / Bane NOR / Press

“Today is a historic day, and we are proud to open the Follobanen to traffic so that travellers can feel the positive effects of one of our largest modernization projects in the last ten years,” Bane Nor chief Gorm Frimannslund said, according to news bureau NTB.

On Sunday, the first trains departed on the new section between Oslo and Ski via what is the Nordic region’s longest railway tunnel.

The official opening will be held on Monday morning at Oslo Central Station. King Harald, Crown Prince Haakon, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård will be present at the opening.

With a top speed of 250 kilometres per hour, the trains will ensure that the journey time between Oslo and Ski is halved from 22 to 11 minutes.

Potential benefits

Ambitions are high in Ski Municipality, which has a number of construction projects underway. The municipality has planned to build over 4,000 new homes in the city centre over the next two decades, the newspaper Aftenposten writes.

“Railway construction is community building. Historically, the railway has set the lines where cities and towns were established.

“With the Follobanen, we are now making arrangements for Oslo and the areas south-east of Oslo to become a shared living and working area. It will be easier to have a greater distance between home and work, and everyday commuting will improve in the entire region,” Frimannslund added.

Delays

The need for increased capacity on the railway line between Oslo and Ski was already present at the end of the 1980s.

After many years and multiple reports, preliminary work on the Follobanen started in 2010 before the main works started in 2015.

The extensive project has experienced several delays and budget breaches, with a final price tag amounting to 36.8 billion kroner.

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OSLO

Potential bankruptcy threatens bus services in Oslo 

The strained finances of bus provider Unibuss could cause chaos for Oslo’s bus network if the company folds. 

Published: 24 April 2024 12:08 CEST
Potential bankruptcy threatens bus services in Oslo 

Unibuss, which is wholly owned by Oslo Municipality, is in danger of going bust due to large losses, unpaid bills, and fines from public transport firm Ruter for issues with its electric bus fleet this winter. 

Oslo City Council will hold an emergency meeting headed up by transport councilor Marit Vea on Wednesday, where she will be grilled on how the council will avert a collapse in the city’s public transport network should Unibuss go bankrupt. 

Unibuss is comprised of four smaller companies that operate bus routes in Oslo on behalf of Ruter. The company has just over 370 buses in operation and covers around 60 to 70 percent of the routes in Oslo and the neighboring municipality of Bærum. 

Oslo’s fleet of electric busses struggled especially with snow and cold temperatures this winter, which caused frequent chaos across the capital’s public transport network. 

Snow, ice, range and charging issues for the busses lead to vehicle shortages which caused mass delays and cancellations several times over the winter. 

Ruter, which is also part owned by Oslo municipality, believes that the financial problems facing Unibuss mean the company could be forced to file for bankruptcy or undergo a major restructuring, according to a memo obtained by publication Teknisk Ukeblad.  

It has previously told public broadcaster that it was working on a plan in case Unibuss goes bankrupt. 

“There is no doubt that the first days of such a scenario will be very demanding for the residents of Oslo and parts of Akershus,” Ruter’s communications director Elisabeth Skarsbø Moen told public broadcaster NRK.  

“First and foremost, we are working to find a solution together with Unibuss that does not affect Ruter’s customers,” she said. 

“But as those responsible for public transport, we have both a plan and an emergency organization ready to also handle a bankruptcy,” Skarsbø Moen added. 

Should Unibuss go bankrupt, its buses would become part of the bankruptcy estate and if such an event were to occur while passengers were in transit, all passengers would need to disembark at the next stop so the buses can be transported to the depot. 

Ruter said it had an eye on the market to try and see what could be available in terms of extra buses and equipment. 

It said that its priority would be to ensure that school transport, and that healthcare workers could get to work, in the event of a sudden lack of buses. 

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