Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

TRANSPORT

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.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Everything you need to know about Oslo's public transport network

Being the Norwegian capital, it’s no surprise that Oslo has a robust public transport network. You can use a public transport ticket for everything from ferries and buses to trams and trains.

One company, Ruter, handles public transport for the city and the surrounding Akershus area.

Thankfully, you’ll only need a single app or travel card to get around the city. This applies to the different forms of public transport, too. You can go from a bus to a tram to a ferry without having to use a different app or purchase a different kind of ticket.

The Ruter app is the only place to buy tickets digitally, and it is available in English. This app also has integrated map features so you can find the best way to get where you need to be and what zones your ticket will cover.

When it comes to the zones themselves, there are five. The cost of a ticket increases as you travel across zones. However, the main thing to know is that zone one covers the entirety of Oslo itself, and the other zones extend into the surrounding areas of Oslo.

Furthermore, some sections of the public transport network, such as the metro, only operate in zone one, so you don’t need to worry when buying tickets.

Tickets

Ruter offers tickets for single journeys, 24 hours, a week, 30 days, or a year. For those commuting inside and out of Oslo, you can add additional zones to the ticket.

The single ticket currently costs 42 kroner for an adult travelling in one zone . There is a flexible scheme currently in place which makes single tickets cheaper the more frequently you buy them.

This discount resets every 30 days. There are also discounts for children, pensioners, and those in the Norwegian Armed Forces.

A single ticket is valid for 60 minutes and allows unlimited transfers. The ticket duration is extended for every extra zone one travels through. For example, this is handy if you are taking a regional train from the airport to the city centre.

Meanwhile, a 24-hour ticket costs 127 kroner, a monthly ticket is 897 kroner (but will soon be reduced), and an annual ticket is 8,996 kroner. The longer the duration of the ticket, the more money you will save.

Those caught travelling without a ticket will typically be fined 1,470 kroner, or 1,200 kroner if the fine is paid on the spot.

The different transport options

There are two kinds of buses in Oslo: the red ones that operate solely in the city and the green ones that shuttle people in and out of the greater Oslo region.

You can get on the red buses at any of the doors, and some of the green ones need you to show your ticket at the front door.

Buses don’t operate 24/7. However, some of the most important routes will have a nighttime schedule.

There are also six tram lines in Oslo, with around 99 stops and 130,000 daily passengers. The trams are suitable for those with mobility issues as the doors open at pavement level. Most lines remain within Oslo, but line 13 ends in Bekkestua in Bærum, one of the municipalities that borders Oslo.

Oslo’s metro, or T-bane, is popular with both commuters and leisure travellers. There are five metro lines, and all lines converge in the city centre via a shared tunnel. The metro line is particularly good at connecting the city to its forested areas, with plenty of hikes and trails branching off from metro stops.

Passenger ferries connect the city to the islands in the Oslofjord. These ferries are a stone’s throw from Oslo town hall at Aker Brygge. There are also commuter ferries connecting Oslo and towns like Nessoden and Drøbak.

Several commuter train lines exist in Norway. In recent years, these have been plagued by punctuality issues.

Regional trains in Norway carry the R designation (the R11, for example), and you can use Ruter tickets for this. An example is using a Ruter ticket to take the cheaper regional trains from the airport to Oslo rather than the express service.

Url copied to clipboard!