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Follo Line railway tunnel open to traffic again

After being closed for more than ten weeks, the Follo Line (Follobanen) railway tunnel is open to traffic again. The track was opened to regular traffic on Sunday at 7 am.

Published: 5 March 2023 10:12 CET

Follobanen

The Follobanen tunnel - the longest railway tunnel in the Nordics - will be officially opened on Monday. Photo by Øystein Grue / Jernbanedirektoratet / Press

“The Blixtunnel between Oslo S and Ski is open to traffic. Thank you for your patience while we worked (on the issues). Welcome back on board the trains,” Bane Nor wrote in a traffic report just after 7 am on Sunday.

The first train departure with passengers left Ski at 7.24 am and arrived at Oslo S at 7.36 am. A press officer at Vy told the news bureau NTB that everything went according to plan on the first departure.

The Follobanen had to close on December 19th last year, just one week after the multibillion-kroner project was opened to traffic.

Bane Nor welcomes back passengers

In a press release, the head of Bane Nor, Gorm Frimannslund, said he is happy that the company can finally welcome passengers back to Follobanen from Sunday.

“This has been a very difficult situation for Bane Nor as an organization and me as CEO and senior manager. It has been over two months since we had to stop traffic, which has affected commuters, other train passengers, and the train companies,” Frimannslund stated.

During the period that it was closed, Bane has carried out multiple test runs on the Follobanen to ensure that everything works as it should.

“For us at Bane Nor, it has been important to carry out thorough troubleshooting and a comprehensive test program to find and correct faults before we could reopen the track to traffic,” Frimannslund added.

“Unfortunately, it has taken longer than we hoped, but now all analyses are satisfactory.”

The Follobanen will reduce the travel time between Oslo and Ski from 22 to 11 minutes. The project cost the Norwegian state 36.8 billion kroner and took 13 years to complete.

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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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