The case summarized Four mayors from Telemark have sent a letter to the Storting politicians in which they criticize Bane Nor for having removed stops on the Sørlandsbanen, which they believe has worsened punctuality. Go-Ahead, which runs the trains on Sørlandsbanen, has applied to get the stops back, as they believe that punctual trains are not a main goal in themselves, but that passengers must be given the opportunity to stay with the train. Sørlandsbanen had the worst punctuality of all Norwegian train lines last year, and punctuality has continued to fall after the stops were removed. Storting representative Jone Blikra (Ap) believes that floods and storms are among the reasons for the poor punctuality, but emphasizes that maintenance will be prioritized in the future. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Bane Nor believes that cutting stops increases punctuality. We have been saying for a long time that that is not where the problems lie. It is down to infrastructure and the railway, says Siri Blichfeldt Dyrland. The mayor of Midt-Telemark has together with three other mayors from Telemark sent a letter to the politicians in the Storting. There they point out that the punctuality of the trains on the Sørlandsbanen has actually worsened after the stops were removed. – It does not seem that Bane Nor takes us seriously, the mayors write in the letter. The fact that Sørtoget has dropped from 64 to 62 per cent in punctuality proves, they believe, that it was wrong to cut departures. Siri Blichfeldt Dyrland, mayor of Midt-Telemark municipality, believes that it is the infrastructure that money should be spent on, and that it is completely unnecessary to cut departures in Telemark. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news Sørlandsbanen Photo: Go-Ahead Sørlandsbanen is 549 kilometers long and stretches from Drammen to Stavanger. There are 45 stations and stops along the route. Sørlandsbanen is operated by Go-Ahead Nordic. The train company took over operations from Vy (formerly NSB) on 15 December 2019. Sørlandsbanen follows an internal route over Kongsberg, Bø in Telemark and through Indre Agder to Kristiansand. Further west, the track runs across the many valleys in Agder before it reaches the coast in Egersund and crosses the Jæren north to Stavanger. Source: Bane Nor Go-Ahead: – Does not have a big enough effect The company Go-Ahead, which runs the trains on the Sørlandsbanen, has applied to get the stops back. – We would have liked to have stopped there, says Oda Riska, communications manager at Go-Ahead. – Punctual trains are not a main goal in themselves. Passengers must be given the opportunity to join the train for punctuality to matter. We don’t believe that cutting the stops will have a big enough effect for it to be worth it, she says. Communications manager for Go-Ahead, Oda Riska, says they want to reintroduce the departures that were removed before 2024. Photo: Privat Sørlandsbanen had the worst punctuality of all Norwegian train routes last year. Before 2024, it was decided to cut stops on the Sørtoget at Nordagutu, Lunde, and Neslandsvatn stations in Telemark, in addition to Gjerstad, Vegårshei and Audnedal in Agder. Agder is now moving towards getting the stops back in 2025, while the three stations in Telemark will remain on the platform. Blichfeldt Dyrland says the telemark mayors will fight on. – It seems that it has become the case in railway politics that Bane Nor and other actors have much more power than the politicians themselves. It’s something I’m going to incorporate more into my own party as well, in relation to the upcoming election campaign, says the mayor from the Center Party. Bane Nor: – It would have been much worse Press manager at Bane Nor, Anne Kirkhusmo, says they would like to cover everyone’s needs, but emphasizes that they are measured by punctuality. Nine out of ten trains must be on schedule. – And punctuality on the Sørlandsbanen is too low, and it is decreasing. So that is why we unfortunately cannot stop at all the places that we have stopped at before. – Many travelers in Norway get very frustrated when the trains are delayed, says Bane Nor’s press manager, Anne Kirkhusmo. Photo: Moment Studio – But the punctuality has also decreased after you removed these stops? – We think the punctuality would have been much worse on the stretch if we had not removed the stops, says Kirkhusmo. She adds that they have now reinstated some of the stops that had been taken out of the timetable, and which turned out to have no effect. – Shall prioritize maintenance Parliamentary representative Jone Blikra (Ap) says floods and storms are among the reasons why punctuality has become even worse on the Sørlandsbanen this year. He nevertheless emphasizes that it is maintenance that will be prioritized in the future. Jone Blikra (A), parliamentary representative. Photo: Randi Berdal Hagen / news – This is what will give the opportunity to increase the number of stops. The big challenge is that for years too little money has been spent on maintenance, Blikra believes. He says the political leadership in the Ministry of Transport has no instructional authority in relation to the number of bus stops throughout Norway. – So Bane Nor has more power than the politicians on these issues? – No, it’s not about power. But Norway is so tightly knit that a minister cannot sit down with all the details. If a minister is to assess the frequency of stops linked to all stops in Norway, there would be nothing else to do. – But we will give clear signals about which priorities we want, and that is maintenance. We have to equip the track, adds Blikra. Published 28.10.2024, at 06.02
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Several mayors in Telemark are fighting to get back stops on the Sørlandsbanen – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
