Bane Nor apologizes to those who should have taken the Follobanen – news Oslo og Viken – Local news, TV and radio

– I would like to begin by apologizing to the travelers and passengers who cannot use the train service, says Stine Undrum, executive vice president for development at Bane Nor to news. She says they have worked night and day both over Christmas and the New Year’s weekend to correct the error that led to smoke in the railway’s power plant. Closed at least until January When asked when there is hope for Follobanen to open, Undrum replies that she cannot promise “anything”. – But what we can say is that we are working continuously to get this train service up again as soon as possible. She also says that an alternative train service will be in place by 9 January. Commuters have feared public transport chaos. The Minister of Transport is impatient The Minister of Transport also thinks the situation is very deplorable. – It is not difficult to empathize with the passengers’ frustration, and of course it is not good enough that a completely new infrastructure measure such as the Follobanen does not work, says Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap). Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap) says they will have another meeting with Bane Nor during the week. Photo: Kristina Kalinina / news He says the ministry has clear and strong expectations that Bane Nor will fix the problem as soon as possible. Nygård says they expect answers to why this happened and what will be needed to get the train service up and running again. Closed immediately after opening The new train section has been closed since before Christmas. The cause was overheating and the development of smoke in a technical facility at Ski station – a few days after the section was opened. The new railway line between Oslo and Ski has cost NOK 36 billion, and the journey time should be halved from 22 to 11 minutes. The Blixtunnel is not yet in use as planned. Photo: Nicolas Tourrenc Too early to hold someone accountable County councilor Olav Skinnes (Sp) in Viken says that the senior management at Bane Nor must evaluate their positions. – We are not working on that now, says Stine Undrum, executive vice president for development at Bane Nor. We are using all our energy to correct the error and get the train service up and running. Then we’d rather get back to blame and eventual responsibility for the incident, says Undrum. The transport minister also says they are fully focused on getting the train service up and running again. – Then we get to go through the whole, and the reason and explanations afterwards, says Jon-Ivar Nygård. The Follobanen was supposed to shorten the travel time between Oslo and Ski. Photo: Bane Nor



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