The Follobanen includes a 22 km double-track express line between Oslo and Ski, including the 20 km Blixtunnel, which is the longest railway tunnel in Scandinavia. A new station was built in Ski.

– Folloban is one of the largest transport projects being built in Norway. Here, many employees have made a huge effort to provide travelers with a better railway offer - says the Prime Minister.

Na construction site Periodically, about a thousand construction workers from 40 countries worked at the same time. 18 million operating hours. The two largest contractors were from abroad. But most of the people involved were from Norway. Over two thousand companies were involved in the project.

It gives new possibilities

– The capacity of the old double track between Oslo and Ski has been bursting at the seams for several years. Unfortunately, this has led to many delays and cancellations for Østfold rail passengers. After the construction of the Follobanen, we have four tracks between Oslo and Ski. We cannot promise that all errors will now disappear, but I am convinced that the everyday life of passengers on trains will be much better, says Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård.

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Trains will run at a speed of 200 km/h, roughly the same speed as trains on the Gardermobanen. This now halves the journey time between Oslo and Ski - from 22 minutes for the fastest trains on the Østfold line to 11 minutes. It is three times faster than travel by car between Oslo S a ski station. The saved travel time of 11 minutes also benefits all passengers traveling on trains south of Ski.

- Measuring travel time, Ski is now closer to Oslo S by train than Tveita by metro. And Vestby is closer to Oslo S by train than Holmenkollen by metro. This opens up completely new possibilities. With the Follobanen, we can get population growth and new jobs in Ski, but also along the other stations on the Østfoldbanen, says Nygård.

More improvements on the Østfold line

Folloban enables the local train departures to be increased from two to four per hour, which stop at all stations of the old double track between Oslo and Ski. There will also be additional morning and afternoon rush hour trains on this line at some stations with a large passenger base.

Travelers can look forward to even more improvements on the Østfold Railway in the coming years.

– In 2025, as planned, the replacement of old trains that currently run in local traffic between Oslo and Ski will begin. The new local trains will have better space and more comfort. In a few years, double track will also be opened by Moss. This results in shorter travel times and more trains between Oslo and Moss via the Follobanen, says the transport minister.

The new digital signaling and safety system ERTMS is to be introduced on the entire Norwegian railway network. In a few years it will operate on the entire Østfold railway. The aim of the ERTMS project is, among other things, to improve the punctuality and regularity of train movements.

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Source: regjeringen

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