– Now we are heading out onto the Kongsvingerbanen, says train driver Alf Herman Kjærstad when we have just passed Lillestrøm. Kjærstad has 36 years of experience behind the levers. Kongsvingerbanen opened in 1862. Today there are five train sets in rotation between Asker and Kongsvinger. But now space on the rails has become tight. – Now we are on Seterstøa in the direction of Kongsvinger. We have a three-minute stay here for crossing, Kjærstad explains. And there are many such stops, with subsequent delays. VETERAN: Alf Herman Kjærstad has 36 years’ experience as a train driver. Photo: William Jobling / news For Kjærstad tells about short or worn-out platforms, unsecured level crossings that force speed down, and few or too short crossing tracks. At the same time, thundering freight trains and passenger trains arrive from Sweden. – It has a domino effect. If one train is delayed, we drag it with us all day on other trains, says the train driver. The single-track Kongsvingerbanen is a symbol of the Norwegian railway’s capacity problems. Locomotive manager Karsten Engebretsen in Vy tog öst, who is on the trip to Kongsvinger, explains that there is simply no room for more trains here. FULL: Capacity is blown on the Kongsvingerbanen, explains train driver manager Karsten Engebretsen in Vy tog öst. Photo: William Jobling / news – Not as this section is today. Then it must be modernized. Both with platforms, tracks, speeds, signaling systems and train sets, he tells news. – What consequences does this have? – It affects customers, traffic and traffic management. And something is underway to increase capacity. Sørumsand and Skarnes have already been improved. And recently it became known that Bane Nor is starting work on four remedial measures on the Kongsvinger railway: Rånåsfoss station, Bodung crossing track, Seterstøa level crossing and Galterud crossing track in Kongsvinger. Construction is expected to start in 2026, according to the local newspaper Glåmdalen. Trains meet at Sørumsand station, but otherwise space is tight on the Kongsvingerbanen. When the trains leave the station, there is only one track available… and it quickly becomes a traffic jam when meeting other trains. Trafikkork In its platform from Hurdal, the government promises to “make arrangements for the railway to take a greater share of both passenger traffic and freight traffic”. But at Bane Nor’s traffic center in Oslo, there is a traffic jam on the screens. Bane Nor is now sounding the alarm that capacity has already been exceeded on several sections. – This applies to both the Kongsvinger Railway, the Dovre Railway, partly the Østfold Railway and the Gjøvik Railway. Also in Oslo-gryta, with the lanes that run there, it’s starting to get very full, says trade group leader Stig Sætermo in Bane Nor. Among the lines that light up red on the Norwegian map, is the 1,290 kilometer track between Lysaker and Bodø. There is no room for more departures, either with people or goods, according to Bane Nor. In the period 2012-2022, the rail network in Norway had mostly good capacity. But during rush hour, the capacity on several lines around the capital was burst. Despite a lot of initial trouble and criticism, the Follobanen contributed to increased capacity southeast of Oslo in 2023. But increased use of the rail network and lack of capacity means that the line between the capital and Bodø is at full capacity all day. In addition, several sections are approaching full capacity, marked in orange. Source: Bane NOR In recent years, there have been more and more trains on the line. Today, the passenger and freight trains run in a queue on what is essentially miles of single-track railway. This leads to longer journey times and more delays. Many sections of track pass through Oslo S. This means that a fault here quickly spreads to many passenger trains and freight trains that are running in a queue to and from the capital. The recently opened Follobanen has remedied the problem of overcapacity southeast of Oslo. But still most of the country’s 4,200 kilometers of single track rail. Here, trains cannot pass each other. Fast passenger trains cannot pass slower freight trains, according to Bane Nor. It can only be done inside stations with multiple tracks, or where a crossing track has been built, which is a short stretch of double track. TRAFFIC CORK: Space is tight on a number of railway sections in Norway, notes Stig Sætermo in Bane Nor. Photo: William Jobling / news – In recent years, we have had a strong increase in the number of departures with passenger trains and more freight traffic on the railway, says Kristina Bolstad Picard, communications manager for operations and technology at Bane Nor. Bane Nor therefore has to say no to train companies that want to transport more passengers and more goods on the railway. And the old infrastructure wears out faster than Bane Nor is able to maintain it, because the amount of traffic has increased. Sætermo is in no doubt as to what the solution to the challenges is: – The immediate thing to do is to get started and build more double tracks. It is the only medicine we have that can provide more trains, both passenger and freight traffic, on the railway, he says. More crossing tracks and increased maintenance will also be able to increase capacity. – The ambition is ready In the Hurdal platform, the government promises to “build more crossing tracks and double-track parcels and improve bottlenecks in order to improve the frequency and regularity of the train service between the parts of the country”. It is positive that many people want to use the railway, but the challenges Bane Nor points to are real, acknowledges State Secretary Tom Kalsås (Ap) in the Ministry of Transport. He refers to many single-track lines and century-old infrastructure. But the government’s ambitions stand firm: It will be possible to move more transport from road to rail, he emphasises. SATSES: – A significant development of double tracks has been and is still ongoing, according to State Secretary Tom Kalsås (Ap). – In recent decades, there has been particular focus around the big cities. A significant development of double tracks has been and is still ongoing. We see today that double tracks are being built in the direction of Hamar, Moss and Tønsberg, he says to news. – The focus is also on the most important freight lines. It is about extending crossing tracks and getting more efficient terminals, on the sections Oslo-Bergen, Oslo-Trondheim or Trondheim-Bodø, he says. But double track is expensive. The recently opened Folloban had a total price tag of almost NOK 37 billion. It took 13 years from the start of the project until the trains could be put into service. Less financial leeway going forward will force even clearer priorities, he believes. – Then it may be that more crossing tracks and improvement of existing infrastructure are the answer, says Kalsås.
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