SHARE
COPY LINK

TRAVEL NEWS

Inquiry advises against new railway in northern Norway

A new line finally linking the city of Tromsø in northern Norway to the country's rail network would cost too much and have negative effects on the environment, reindeer and the rights of Sami people, the country's railway directorate has concluded.

Pictured is a train in Oslo.
Here is what you need to know about Norway's Bergen Line railway. Pictured is a train in Oslo. Photo by Magnus Engø on Unsplash

The government launched the inquiry to investigate the viability of the North Norway Railway (Nord-Norgebanen) as part of the Hurdal agreement on which the coalition government of the Labour Party and Centre Party was formed

It appointed the Norwegian Railway Directorate to carry out an inquiry after taking power at the end of 2021.

“A new northern Norway railway would have very negative effects when it comes to nature and the environment, greenhouse gas emissions and reindeer herding and the rights of indigenous people,” Madeleine Kristiansen, the project manager who ran the investigation, said when the directorate submitted its report on Wednesday.

According to Knut Sletta, the director of Norway’s railways, any carbon emissions saved by reducing the number of flights to and from Tromsø would be far outweighed by that emitted during the project’s construction.

“Although rail traffic is in itself climate and environmentally friendly, the calculations show that the emissions in the construction phase would be so large that they would never be able to be recovered in the analysis phase of 75 years,” he said.

According to the directorate, the new project would cost 281 billion kroner if it had a spur line to Harstad, and only 234 billion kroner if it only went to Tromsø, costs which it judged would be vastly outweighed by any economic benefits.

Norway’s Transport Minister, Jon-Ivar Nygård, said on Wednesday it was too early to comment on the conclusions of the report.

“I cannot go into more detail about the content of the investigations and how the government is dealing with it now. We will familiarise ourselves with the reports and take them with us further in our work,” he said.

The Centre Party has long campaigned for the line to be built, and in the Hurdal agreement, the two parties agreed to “carry out a concept selection study with the aim of realising the development of the Nord-Norgebanen”.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TRAVEL NEWS

EasyJet to launch new routes from Oslo and Tromsø

Budget airline EasyJet will return to Norway and has announced seven new routes from Tromsø and a couple of new connections from Oslo.

EasyJet to launch new routes from Oslo and Tromsø

EasyJet will return to Oslo for the first time in a few years with new routes to Milan Malpensa and Paris Charles De Gaule in late October.

The flights will initially run from autumn to spring, with four departures to Milan and three to Paris per week.

In addition to the Oslo routes, seven new routes will be launched from the Arctic capital of Tromsø.

“We are very pleased to welcome easyJet to Norway. Their establishment in Tromsø and Oslo will provide both Norwegian and international travellers with more options and strengthen the connection between Norway and important European destinations,” Joachim Lupnaav Johnsen, Executive Vice President of Commercial Management and Development at Avinor, said.

The new Tromsø routes will connect northern Norway to London-Gatwick, Manchester, Paris-CDG, Milan-Malpensa, Bristol, Geneva, and Amsterdam.

All routes would have two flights a week, starting between mid-November and mid-December and lasting until the end of March.

SHOW COMMENTS