On Wednesday, the Directorate of Railways presented the report for what will probably be the largest transport project in history in Norway – if it is built. A railway from Fauske to Tromsø, with a side branch to Harstad, will cost NOK 281 billion and involve major interventions in what is today untouched nature. Perhaps the most startling thing about what the directorate put forward is how little of the track will be in daylight. For those who thought that a journey with Nord-Norgebanen would offer magnificent nature experiences for tourists and visitors, they got a real cold shower today. Because according to the tunnel accounts, the total share of tunnels for Nord-Norgebanen is a whopping 67 per cent: Fauske – Narvik: 23 tunnels of a total of 139 kilometers make up 78 per cent of the route. Narvik – Tromsø: 31 tunnels totaling 116 kilometers make up 62 percent of the stretch. Narvik – Harstad: 19 tunnels totaling 38 kilometers which make up 53 of the stretch. A complete development will involve 293 kilometers of tunnels. It also includes the “arm” that is proposed to be built for Harstad. If you take the train directly from Fauske to Tromsø, it will mean 2.5 hours without daylight, if the train has an average speed of 100 kilometers per hour. The tunnels are not only numerous – some of them are also very long. The longest tunnel in the route is on the Fauske-Narvik section through Meraftesfjellet – and is 24 kilometers long. It is roughly the same length as the Lærdal tunnel, and 5 kilometers longer than the Follobane tunnel, which is currently the longest railway tunnel in the Nordics. At 24.5 kilometres, the Lærdal tunnel is the world’s longest tunnel for car traffic. The world’s longest train tunnel, on the other hand, is more than twice as long. Photo: Merete Husmo Høidal / news It will also go down as the 14th longest railway tunnel in the world. But the tunnel through Meraftesfjellet will thus be only one of 73 tunnels that must be built to complete the Nord-Norgebanen, according to the Norwegian Railway Directorate. The green lines on this map show where the tunnel is to be built. The black fields are bridges, while the orange lines are railways that will go over the hill. Photo: Multiconsult Demanding development Building the Nord-Norgebanen will have negative effects on nature and the environment, greenhouse gas emissions and reindeer herding and the rights of indigenous people, the Norwegian Railways Directorate stated when they delivered their conclusion on Wednesday. Therefore, the directorate also does not recommend that it be built. They would rather spend money on Nordlandsbanen and Ofotbanen. Project manager Madeleine Kristiansen in the Norwegian Railway Directorate says that building the Nord-Norgebanen will be demanding. – It is a very demanding landscape. There are many mountains and deep fjords. We are unable to cross the Tysfjord, and then we have to go this far inland. And there is demanding terrain with lots of mountains, says project manager Madeleine Kristiansen in the Norwegian Railway Directorate. Therefore, the Norwegian Railway Directorate will not cross the Tysfjord. Underwater tunnels or bridge solutions were not assessed as relevant based on current technology and experience. The fjords in this area are very deep, which causes challenges with foundations and very long fountains would be necessary. There is no national experience with railway bridges with such large spans, and also to a small extent internationally. There are railway bridges with a span of over 1,000 metres, but then double-track and often combined with a road. The concept of a train ferry was also considered, but was seen as an outdated solution. As a result, the route is laid outside the largest fjords. The proposed route will then be located in an area with very challenging topography and hence a high proportion of tunnels. There is also little built-up in these areas, which will be challenging for construction implementation. She says that it is more difficult to create train sections than motorways. This is because motorways can to a greater extent twist and turn in step with the terrain. Project manager Madeleine Kristiansen in the Norwegian Railway Directorate during the presentation of her conclusion on the Nord-Norgebanen in Narvik on Wednesday. Here together with transport minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap). Photo: NTB – Railways are a different construction to roads, which cannot turn around like a motorway can. Railways require straighter sections and cannot adapt to the terrain in the same way as a road, Kristiansen continues. The project manager says she cannot think of any transport projects in recent times that are as large as the Nord-Norgebanen. – It is an enormous project and an enormously long stretch of new railway. It is also more demanding to build tunnels. You get a huge mass surplus that you have to get rid of. Facts about the Nord-Norgebanen The further extension of the railway connection has been planned and proposed ever since the Nordlandsbanen was completed in 1962. Already in the 1970s there were plans for the Nord-Norgebanen all the way to Tromsø. In March 1989, the Labor Party, which then held government power, adopted a program formulation to carry out the planning of the Nord-Norgebanen in the coming period. The construction work must be started when the planning provides a basis for it, it was stated in the program post. In the same year, the Center Party also decided that the Nord-Norgebanen should be built. When the railway report for the period 1990 to 1993 was discussed in June 1989, the Labor Party, KrF and Sp said that there should be a basis for presenting a plan for the Nord-Norgebanen by 1993. At that time, they also wanted to investigate a rail connection from Kirkenes via Nikel to Murmansk in the then Soviet Union. In April 1990, the Ministry of Transport stated that an expansion of the Nord-Norgebanen would cost NOK 15 billion. However, this should also include electrification of the Nordlandsbanen and new railway equipment. In 1993, a majority at the LO congress decided to be in favor of the Nord-Norgebanen being built, starting during 1997. On 25 February 1994, then transport minister Kjell Opseth (Ap) shelved the plans for the extension of the Nord-Norgebanen for good that it was determined that the costs of extending the track would be ten times higher than the benefit. In 2009, the National Transport Plan for the period 2010 to 2019 was presented with the wording “During the planning period, the Government does not intend to plan or build a railway on the Fauske-Tromsø section”. In the National Transport Plan for the period 2019–2029, it was decided that a possible development of the Nord-Norgebanen from Fauske to Tromsø, with a connection to the Ofotbanen in Narvik, should be investigated. On 1 July 2019, the Norwegian Directorate of Railways presented a cost investigation on possible railway development from Fauske to Tromsø. The cost estimate states that the track will cost between NOK 113 and 120 billion. According to the calculations, the track will not be economically profitable with a net loss of between NOK 46 and 109 billion. On Wednesday 27 September 2023, Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap) received the report from the National Roads Administration, the Norwegian Railway Directorate, Avinor and the Coastal Administration on the basis for the future transport systems in Northern Norway. The report deals with transport by road, rail, sea shipping and aviation in Northern Norway until 2060. Source: NTB 13.5 Pyramids of Kheops According to the report that was presented today, there will be enormous amounts of stone masses that will have to be removed during the tunnel construction. A total of 33.5 million cubic meters of stone and gravel. For comparison, the volume of the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt is about 2.5 million cubic meters, and a fully loaded truck with a trailer can transport about 10 cubic meters. In other words, a full development would yield masses equivalent to 13.5 Cheops pyramids, or 3.3 million truck loads. MASSIVE: Excavating 73 tunnels will provide surplus mass equivalent to 13.5 times the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. Photo: MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP – It will be a challenge to find alternative uses for the masses. We are talking about absolutely enormous quantities and large numbers. Tunnels also cost in the order of 4–5 times as much as building in open countryside. – It is very demanding for nature and the environment, and the climate accounting shows that a development is not climate-friendly at all. Financially, it costs more than we manage to benefit from the track, Kristiansen continues. SV deputy leader: Major shortcomings in the investigation But Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes in SV, who sits in the Storting for Troms, does not agree with the conclusion. – The detailed basis they have used as a basis has many shortcomings, he believes. He believes that the climate calculation has become much worse because the directorate has assumed a very slow railway that only runs at 100 kilometers per hour. In addition, the politician believes that they expect too few passengers and little fish and value creation that end up on the train. Therefore, you get very negative numbers. – If you adjust these numbers a little, you get huge results, he says. – There are many things in the details that make a big difference. Then you have such an absurd situation that building a railway is negative for the climate, says Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, deputy leader of SV. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news According to Kristiansen, the biggest greenhouse gas emissions from Nord-Norgebanen are not emissions from future transport activity, but emissions from development and land acquisition. – Development, operation and maintenance of a fully developed Nord-Norgebanen over 75 years is estimated to produce emissions of 7.75 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents. Emissions from the development itself make up 80-90 per cent of the overall greenhouse gas emissions, says the project manager. If the current Nordlandsbanen is to be extended to Tromsø, most of the new route will go through a tunnel. Photo: Rune Fossum Reduced development will cause lower, but still very extensive emissions, than with full development, according to the Norwegian Railway Directorate. Frp: Pitting projects against each other Per-Willy Amundsen, Storting politician for Frp from Troms, believes the report pits existing railways against road projects and Nord-Norgebanen in order to split political votes in the north. – I understand that they are trying to pit these things against each other. It is a divide-and-rule technique that is not suitable for Northern Norway to stand with a united front, he says. Per-Willy Amundsen, parliamentary representative for the FRP from Troms, believes that we should both upgrade existing railways, build new roads and build the Nord-Norgebanen. Photo: Martin Mortensen / news Amundsen believes the directorate had decided what they thought about the railway before they began the investigation. – It is obvious that they were prejudiced. It does not speak in favor of what they conclude. He believes it is absurd to expect infrastructure in Northern Norway to be profitable. – It is not profitable to make investments in infrastructure in Northern Norway at all if you are to base the requirements with which the transport authorities operate. – No one is talking about us not upgrading train sections in Eastern Norway because you have a road. So why should we accept that argument in the North? – Great uncertainty about the costs The Norwegian Directorate of Railways is no stranger to the fact that some people want to call the study a commissioned work, where they have tried to make it as expensive as possible. But Kristiansen says that Jernbaneverket has only dealt professionally with the mandate they have received from the government and the ministry. – We have laid down a completely new route, and done everything again. We have searched for the most cost-effective railway line possible, she says. These areas have been identified as particularly vulnerable to encroachment: On the section Fauske – Narvik, the following areas and sections have been identified as particularly vulnerable to encroachment: • In the northernmost part of the Fauske marshes, the line should be tunnelled to the greatest extent possible. • Horndalsvatnet/Bonnådalen and Sandnesvatnet, where consideration of relocation rent for reindeer means that a tunnel should be built on parts of the stretch. • Above the Hellmofjord, the crossing must be made over the narrowest point to avoid important habitat types. Source: Norwegian Railways Directorate – There is a lot of scope for optimizing this route, and there is a large margin of uncertainty in the costs at this level, both plus and minus. But we believe it gives an overall picture of what such a development might cost. The investigation must now be quality assured, and it must be sent for consultation. Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård and is now awaiting a debate on the conclusions. – The government will now gradually decide whether it is right to emphasize the professional recommendations we have received now, or whether we should emphasize social security, emergency preparedness and regional enlargement and the other arguments that may have to be made in order to realize the project, says transport minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap).
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Nord-Norgebanen will mostly consist of tunnels – news Nordland
