A big thank you to the commuters and other train travelers on the Østfoldbanen and Follobanen who have been patient with us. Today we have restarted passenger traffic on the Follobanen, wrote Gorm Frimannslund, CEO of Bane NOR
The information on the Bane NOR website by the CEO of Bane NOR continues.
The Follobanen closed on December 19, 2022, after only being open for eight days. The reason was overheating of the return current cables between the Blixtunnel and the switchboard at the station in Ski. Since then, the track has been closed while we work to fix the faults.
For Bane NOR as an organization, and for me as CEO and Senior Manager, this was a very difficult situation. It has been over two months since we had to stop traffic, affecting commuters, other train passengers and railway companies. I am happy that on Sunday we can finally welcome them back to Follobanen.
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From March 5, the route offer on Follobanen and Østfoldbanen will be the same as when Follobanen opened on December 11, 2022. It has been running with full traffic from day one. Traveling between Nordre Follo, Østfoldbyene and Oslo will now have an offer routes, which they should have before Christmas.
For us at Bane NOR, it was important to conduct thorough troubleshooting and a comprehensive testing program to find and rectify defects before we could reopen the track to traffic. Unfortunately, it took longer than expected, but now all analyzes are satisfactory. Therefore, we are as confident as we can that the resumption of traffic has gone well and that we can finally welcome travelers back to the Follobanen.
What is Follobanen?
It is a 22 km new double-track express line between Oslo and Ski. It consists of two tunnels with a total length of 40 km. Both tunnels run underground and are between 130 and 250 meters deep. This line is intended to enable fast and comfortable movement of passengers between Oslo and Ski, as well as the transport of goods. It is designed to handle trains traveling at a speed of 200 km/h. Work on the Follobanen project began in 2015 and construction was completed in 2022.
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