The case in summary: The Valdresbanen, a decommissioned railway, is the subject of an ongoing dispute between Bane Nor and the five local municipalities over who will pay to remove the rails. The municipalities will tear up the rail corridor and create a regional cycle path. Bane Nor previously promised to cover the costs associated with the removal of creosote-containing sleepers, but now they are coming with more delays. The mayors in the five municipalities are afraid of what responsibility they may get if they take over ownership of the track before it is removed. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Passenger traffic on the traditional Valdresbanen was terminated in 1988. Now long stretches remain as a “ghost railway”. It is overgrown with weeds, old tunnels and disintegrating rails. The mayors in the five municipalities along the route come with harsh criticism of Bane Nor. They struggled to get rid of the track. The Valdresbanen was a sideline to the Gjøvikbanen, and ran between Eina on Toten to Fagernes in Valdres, a stretch of about 10 miles. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news – If this had been a private actor, the governing authorities would have demanded clean-up quite quickly, says mayor Ola Tore Dokken (Sp) in Nordre Land municipality. – Here the state itself has an activity, and shut down and disappear in this way. I think that is worthy of criticism. Want to remove the rail corridor In June this year, the five municipalities presented a preliminary project. Here, there was great eagerness to break up the rail corridor and create a regional cycle path or walking path. But now there is a very bad atmosphere. It is not clear who will pay for what, and Bane Nor and the municipalities each have their own version of why the cooperation is not going smoothly. At the same time, the railway lies there and rusts. Close to Etna station, the rail corridor is being dismantled. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news The railway case as a result of the Forprosjektet came with crushing criticism of Bane Nor’s role. The project believes that the agency opposes attempts at sensible after-use. The report states that the agency refuses to pay for the removal of creosote-containing sleepers, which must be delivered to an approved waste collection point. news Innlandet, on the other hand, is on an e-mail exchange from 2021, where Bane Nor promises the opposite. “When/if the day comes when this becomes relevant, sleepers and posts with creosote will be handled as special waste and delivered to approved reception facilities. Bane Nor will cover the expenses associated with this work,” communications advisor Simen Slette Sunde wrote to news on March 12, 2021. Director of railway property in Bane Nor, Morten Stray Floberghagen, says that he still stands by the content of this e-mail today. Morten Stray Floberghagen, director of railway property in Bane Nor. Photo: Bane Nor – How can it be connected? – If we are going to remove sleepers and rails now, without knowing whether it will be a hiking trail, then we risk making an expensive and unnecessary natural intervention. In any case, it is unnecessarily expensive if the municipality in the city chooses (or may choose) to put gravel on top of the sleepers in the city, he says. – Five unanimous municipal council decisions The mayor of Nordre Land is completely uncomprehending about this comment. – There are five identical municipal council resolutions on the matter. Everyone is crystal clear that they want a path for both cycling and hiking, says Dokken. Mayor of Nordre Land, Ola Tore Dokken (Sp) at Dokka station. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news The five municipalities Nordre and Søndre Land, Nord- and Sør-Aurdal and Etnedal are affected by the case. The other four mayors largely agree with Dokken. They all believe that this is state infrastructure where the state must cover the costs of dismantling. Parts of the Valdresbanen are now completely overgrown. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news – Municipalities position themselves Floberghagen denies that it is Bane Nor that is the brake block. – We accept our responsibility. But we do not want to increase our responsibility, if that is what the municipalities want. We cannot take responsibility for building a hiking trail that we would otherwise not have to do. – Something must have happened here with the communication with the municipalities? – Yes, it can be. But I think the municipalities here also position themselves politically, and they are very good at that. So I think it’s just a sign of good commitment. The railway that was not closed anyway Ever since 1988, there have been various conflicts about the subsequent use of the Valdresbanen. The freight traffic lasted until 1999. Between 1999 and 2003, 18 km of railway track between Fagernes and Bjørgo was torn up and a cycle path created. At times there have been various proposals for timber transport. Volunteer enthusiasts in the Nye Valdresbanen Association have on several occasions organized dressage driving and vintage trains as an offer for tourists. More and more local politicians have nevertheless become more skeptical about this and have instead agreed that it could become a hiking trail through the beautiful landscape. Nordre and Søndre Land in particular have complained that the railway route obstructs other important land uses in the municipality. Afraid of “corpse in the closet” The five mayors are afraid of what responsibility they may get if they take over ownership of the track. They believe that “corpses in the closet” may appear in several decades, where they will have to pay for pollution that has appeared. Along the ten-mile-long track lie several thousand creosote-containing sleepers and other scrap. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news The Norwegian Environment Agency has no clear answer to how harmful runoff from these is now, over a hundred years after the sleepers were built there. – In general, it is the case that much of the creosote content in old sleepers can be assumed to have already leaked out, says senior adviser Gunnhild Preus-Olsen. Paper mill in the state The five municipalities believe they have fallen victim to “spooky government organization of the work with decommissioned railways”. The municipalities are “small players compared to a large organization like Bane Nor”, it says in the preliminary project. Ola Tore Dokken says that they have “given up” on Bane Nor, and will now raise the matter to a political level. The mayor of Nordre Land, Ola Tore Dokken, is fighting to get rid of the Valdresbanen. He has given up Bane Nor, and wants the Ministry of Transport on the track. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news Floberghagen, on the other hand, believes that the dialogue can continue. – The Pollution Act has a basic principle that “polluters pay”, and that also applies to us. – We still want good dialogue with the municipalities to find the right way forward, he says. Published 09.10.2024, at 16.55
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Bane Nor escapes its responsibility for the closed Valdresbanen, mayors believe – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
