The billion-dollar Follobanen project has now been closed for over three weeks. It was closed on 19 December last year, after only being open for a week. At the start, it was announced by Bane Nor that the track was closed due to overheating and the development of smoke in a technical facility at Ski. Bane Nor has since said there are earthing faults and problems with the return current system. In a press release in December, they themselves wrote that: “There is major damage to the power supply system for the Blix tunnel.” On Friday, it became clear that a report from Norconsult had pointed to weaknesses with the return flow system in advance. It is still uncertain when the Follobanen can reopen, but Bane Nor said on Wednesday that it will happen on February 1 at the earliest. WORK: Since 19 December, Bane Nor has worked to find and correct faults on the Folloban. Photo: Bane Nor Known through the media DSB told several media last week that they were waiting for a report from Bane Nor about the problems on the Folloban. Teknisk Ukeblad wrote a few days ago that DSB became aware of the events through the media, and that Bane Nor may have breached the regulations. DSB is the supervisory authority for electrical installations for many things, including the railway. They administer the Act on Supervision of Electrical Installations and Electrical Equipment. news has now been given access to Bane Nor’s reply letter to DSB. In the letter, Bane Nor encloses a short report on the damage to the electrical system on the Folloban line. No “major material damage” In the letter, dated 6 January this year, they write to DSB, among other things. “The known material damage in the first failure case (December 19) was: An insulator A joint of a 30 kV high-voltage cable Four end terminations of a 30 kV high-voltage cable. In the case of the error on 23 December, only one joint had visible damage.” Bane Nor further writes that their assessment at this time was that this did not qualify for the term “major material damage”, and was therefore not reportable. “If DSB is of a different opinion as to how §3.4 (relevant paragraph, journal note) should be interpreted, we welcome further information on this,” the letter says. – No danger to life and health – There was no danger to life and health and the material damage we had an overview of shortly after the events on 19 December and 23 December, we thought were limited, and did not trigger a requirement to report to DSB. This is what Lars Berge, area director for the area east of Bane Nor, answers to news. – Now after the track has been idle for just over three weeks – do you still think that it is a correct assessment that the incidents were not reported to DSB uninvited? – Now in retrospect we see the scope of the work and we have gained an overview of the material damage. Now would it would have been natural for us to inform DSB. We are in contact with DSB now, says Berge. Bane Nor now agrees that the outage is caused by a fault in the electrical system, but the first assessment was that the damage was not so extensive that it conditional notification to DSB, continue says Berge. King Harald opened the Folloban in December. Photo: Lise Åserud – Different assessment In “Regulations on electrical supply systems”, under section “§3.4. Reporting of accidents/accidents”, it says: “The owner/operator of an electrical installation must report personal injuries and major material damage caused directly or indirectly by the electrical installation to the supervisory authority as soon as possible.” – Does Bane Nor think that the regulations are unclear? – In this case, we have had a slightly different assessment of the regulations. We will have a dialogue with DSB to get a common understanding of when to report, and we will review our procedures for when to report, writes Berge in an e-mail to news. – How often have you reported faults on electrical installations to DSB in the past? – It is very, very rare that we have had incidents so large that we have formally reported them to DSB, Berge replies. Unfortunate if businesses do not report incidents DSB must now assess whether they are satisfied with the response they have received from Bane Nor. But to assess whether Bane Nor has breached the reporting obligation, they need to know more, writes department director Johan Marius Ly in DSB to news. Johan Marius Ly in DSB. Photo: Anita Andersen (DSB) – To assess this, we need to know more about the sequence of events and consequences of the material damage. The report we have requested from Bane Nor and any follow-up through meetings/supervision will be able to provide us with sufficient information. Based on what they have read in the media, DSB has reason to believe that the incidents should have been reported. They have therefore asked for an explanation from Bane Nor. – Breach of the reporting obligation will be clarified when we have assessed the information we have requested, writes Ly. – How seriously do you take it? – It is unfortunate if a business does not report accidents/incidents to DSB. As a supervisory body, it is important for DSB that information is provided about incidents that give us the opportunity to follow up, writes Ly in DSB to news. Lars Berge, area director for the area east of Bane Nor Photo: Anne Næsheim / news news has asked Bane Nor whether they are too reticent to report to the supervisory authority DSB. – We do not want to be reticent and we try to the best of our ability to fulfill the expectations they have through the legislation. DSB is an important sparring partner for us and with whom we feel we have a good dialogue, writes Berge to news. DSB believes that both financial and operational consequences should be the basis for whether or not to report to DSB. Ly states that the directorate now wants to know more about the sequence of events leading to the injuries and is in dialogue with Bane Nor about this. Can give a penalty If you don’t report incidents according to the regulations, you can get a penalty, says Johan Marius Ly in DSB. Violation of requirements in the regulations (here regulations on electricity supply facilities), including the duty to report accidents/accidents, can give rise to both administrative reactions and punishment. To the extent that punishment is applicable, such cases are handled by the public prosecutor’s office/the police. Violations of requirements given in or pursuant to the Electricity Supervision Act can be punished with fines. Can be punished in the following ways: Violation of requirements in the regulations (here regulations on electricity supply facilities), including the duty to report accidents/accidents, can give grounds for both administrative reactions and punishment. To the extent that punishment is applicable, it is dealt with such cases by the prosecution/police. Violations of requirements given in or pursuant to the Electricity Supervision Act can be punished with fines/penalties, (Electricity Supervision Act § 14). Administrative reactions as a result of violations of requirements given in the regulations will consist of an obligation to correct the deviations/errors .The duty to correct deviations can also be linked to the duty to both have and comply with routines to meet other requirements in the regulations, for example routines to meet the duty to report accidents/accidents. Violation fees are also an administrative response, and which can be perceived as a punishment-like reaction. DSB does not have the authority to impose an infringement fee in the event of a breach of provisions given in the regulations on electrical supply facilities (Fef). The Minister of Transport has announced an external investigation of the Follobanen. In addition, Bane Nor is launching two separate investigations, news reported on Wednesday.
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Bane Nor did not report to DSB, believed it was not required to report – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
