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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”.

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STRIKES

Fresh strike threat could ground flights from Norway

Aircraft technicians in Norway working for SAS, Norwegian, and Widerøe could strike, causing disruption for air traffic at the start of the summer holidays if mediation talks fail.

Fresh strike threat could ground flights from Norway

Beginning later this week, the union representing aircraft technicians at SAS, Norwegian, and Widerøe (Norsk Flyteknikerorganisasjonand) and the branch of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) responsible for the aviation industry, will have mediation talks on a collective bargaining agreement.

If an agreement isn’t agreed, 30 aircraft technicians will be taken out on strike – with more workers being taken out until an agreement is reached.

“The will to strike is great. If it is not resolved quickly, it is natural to register more,” Jan Skogseth, head of the union, told travel news publication Flysmart 24.

The strike could begin at midnight on Friday, disrupting air travel at the start of the school holidays in Norway. The strike could take aircraft out of rotation as there will be less staff to carry out essential maintenance on planes.

“The number of workers being taken out may sound low, but considering that there is already a shortage of aircraft technicians, a tight summer program at the same time as the holidays, it can quickly have a big impact when we have around 480 aircraft technicians in Norway in total,” Skogseth said.

However, he said that the strike would not affect flights that are critical to life and health. In 2022, the Norwegian government ordered an aircraft technician strike to an end after a strike escalation threatened to ground air ambulances.

When the Norwegian government orders a strike to end, a state body decides the outcome of the collective bargaining agreement and terms, such as wages.

Norway has seen several potential strikes averted in recent weeks. Both a pilot’s strike that would have affected Norwegian and an Avinor staff strike was resolved during mediation or mediation overtime.

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