Reaction mixed to transport plan

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called it the biggest commitment to public transportation projects ever made in Norway, but his left-center government’s release of its new plan for transportation investment during the next 10 years was met with both enthusiasm and criticism over the weekend. Officials in Oslo, where traffic congestion is a major problem, weren’t [...]

NRK’s ‘slow TV’ won more viewers

Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) made television history with its record-breaking “minute-by-minute” coverage of a coastal voyage on a Hurtigruten vessel two summers ago. It’s since made similar “slow TV” shows, and the latest coverage of a trip on Norway’s northernmost train line was another big hit over the holidays. More than a million Norwegians, or roughly [...]

Electrical trouble halted trains

All train traffic through Oslo’s busy central station (Oslo S) ground to a halt Sunday afternoon because of a grounding problem in the station’s electrical system. The disruption delayed thousands of passengers traveling during the Christmas holiday rush. Traffic stood still for around a half-hour before service could begin to get back on track, according [...]

Tunnel fire disrupts train schedules

Tens of thousands of Oslo-area commuters had to find alternative ways of getting to work on Monday after a fire in the main railroad tunnel under Oslo forced its closure on Sunday. The fire also halted all train traffic through Oslo, disrupting service on both local and long-distance routes. “The consequences are quite dramatic because [...]

Public transport officials breathe sighs of relief

The train, bus and metro systems in and around the Oslo metropolitan area underwent their biggest route changes in several decades early this week, but officials could report few if any major problems. Commuters mostly got to their destinations and were being thanked for their patience and cooperation. “Today we have to thank our customers,” [...]

Challenges loom for commuters

More than 100,000 Norwegians are being warned that it may be challenging to get to and from work next week and just about anywhere else. Public transit systems in the southeastern portion of the country will undergo major route changes from December 9, while state meteorologists were forecasting snow at the same time. A deep [...]

Trains to be faster, more comfortable

Norwegian state railway NSB is making more improvements to its train service around the Oslo area, but passengers nonethless faced another weekend of service disruption. State railroad Jernbaneverket planned more maintenance work and improvements of its own, which involves closing Oslo’s Central Station (Oslo S) from noon on Saturday until noon on Sunday. NSB announced [...]

Vandalism halts trains’ comeback

Another summer of major train service disruption in the Oslo area ended on Monday, when the rails re-opened on schedule after six weeks of repairs and improvements. One of the main lines north of Oslo, however, came to a screeching halt almost immediately because of vandalism that could have led to a fatal derailment. An early [...]

Stoltenberg shakes up government

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced the replacement on Monday of two Center Party ministers in the government coalition he leads. The shake-up is widely viewed as a means of strengthening both his Labour Party-led government and the Center Party itself, which now has so little voter support that it’s dangerously close to losing its right [...]

Nordland train route fatal for wildlife

Animal rights advocates and now the Sami Parliament (Sametinget) in Northern Norway are demanding construction of fences along Norway’s northernmost train line, Nordlandsbanen, to help keep both wildlife and herds of reindeer off the tracks. Hundreds of reindeer, moose and deer are killed every year in bloody collisions between the animals and the trains. Locomotive [...]

Critics blast ending to moose drama

The latest urban misadventure of a Norwegian moose over the weekend ended not only with shots inside a busy train tunnel, but with criticism from animal rights group NOAH. No thought was given, the group claims, to how frightened the moose must have been, while a deer suffered the same sad fate. The drama began [...]

Doomed train’s engineer ‘distracted’

The man in charge of a brand-new train due for service on regional lines around Oslo was reportedly “distracted” and failed to see a sign warning him to reduce speed to 70 mph, according to a preliminary accident report. He then hit a curve at around twice that speed, which caused the train to tip [...]

Suddenly spring, slide danger rises

UPDATED: Rain and an unusual spate of warm weather have raised the danger of landslides and avalanches all over Norway, with four separate slides hitting Sør-Trøndelag on Tuesday. One of them rammed the main route between Trondheim and Oslo, where the weather has never been so warm this early in the year. The biggest landslide, [...]

Train engineer charged in derailment

The locomotive engineer who was at the controls of a brand-new train on a test run when it derailed last week has been charged in the accident, while police and a state commission continue their investigation. Police in Vestfold County confirmed to Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday that charges have been filed against the engineer, [...]

Train cleared in recent derailment

No technical deficiencies have been found on the brand-new Swiss-built train that derailed near Holmestrand last week. State railroad Jernbaneverket, meanwhile, hopes to re-open the commuter line where the accident occurred by the end of the week. Neither Jernbaneverket, state railway NSB nor state accident investigators could find anything wrong with the train involved, one [...]

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