Climate and environment friendly, area efficient, no pollution from microplastics and road salt. These positive words cover the traffic on the Dovrebanen, where the trains run on renewable electricity. Most of the train traffic in Norway today is green, and the government’s goal is of course that more travelers and more goods will travel on rails. I can therefore understand that Astri Elgethun, leader of the Studentersamfundet in Trondhjem and a train enthusiast, is concerned about the attractiveness of the train service between Oslo and Trondheim as a result of the bridge collapse in Ringebu splitting the Dovrebanen in two following the extreme weather Hans in August this year. Elgethun doubts that she will take the train home for Christmas this year, and she calls for action in a feature on news Ytring on 4 November. Let it be absolutely clear: Getting the Randklev bridge at Ringebu restored as quickly as possible is our highest priority. Bane Nor has been involved in this case from day one and has considered many options to get a good solution in place. Nor is it a matter of money. The bridge connection must go up. But as the Randklev bridge has a span of 170 meters over a flood-prone river, it will naturally take some time before a new bridge connection is in place. Firstly: Bridges of this type are not off-the-shelf products. Bane Nor is now investigating whether it is possible to reuse the two bridge elements that fell into Gudbrandsdalslågen. In addition, one of the two foundations, on which the bridge stands in the river, must be replaced. The bridge connection will probably come into place faster with the reuse of bridge elements compared to having to build a new railway bridge. Using the neighboring bridge will not speed up the restoration of train traffic. Here, too, the foundations must be improved, in addition to the fact that the bridge and tunnel are not designed for modern trains. After the bridge collapse, everyone in the railway family threw themselves around to reduce the negative consequences as much as possible. The state provides temporary financial compensation to affected passenger and freight train companies. It is positive that it has been possible to transfer part of the freight traffic to the Røros railway. Bus for train is not ideal, but the time on board the buses between Oslo and Trondheim is getting shorter and shorter. At the start, passengers had to travel by bus between Lillehammer and Dombås. From 30 October there has been bus transport between Lillehammer and Ringebu. The plan is that from 10 December there will only be bus transport on the just over one mile long stretch between Fåvang and Ringebu. Even if this will not be as good as the ordinary train service, I would encourage Elgethun and others who are going home for Christmas to still choose SJ’s train service – even if it means a short 15-minute bus ride for part of the journey. Elgethun and the fellow passengers will hopefully notice that the train runs on a completely new, double-track railway between Eidsvoll and Minnesund. The project is part of the InterCity development on the Dovrebanen, which in 2027 will, among other things, reduce the journey time to around one hour and increase capacity on the track between Oslo and Hamar. The development will also provide travel time gains for the long-distance trains between Oslo and Lillehammer. And in a few years, the old long-distance trains between Oslo and Trondheim will be replaced by completely new trains – with better comfort. Extreme weather Hans showed that it is important to take care of the infrastructure we already have. The need for maintenance and renewal on Norwegian railways is great. In the Ministry of Transport, we are now working on the National Transport Plan 2025-2036, which will be presented to the Storting in the spring. Here we will present the government’s proposal for further development of the railway, among other things to make the infrastructure more robust against extreme weather. In any case, the goal is for the train to be attractive – for example for students going home for Christmas. Read the chronicle:
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Almost all the way home for Christmas – Ytring
