Fornebubanen, Samferdsel | Where did the city train to Fornebu go?
Opinions This is a debate post. The post expresses the writer’s attitudes.
The date was 10 May 2007. Ever since Fornebu was closed down as the main airport in 1998, it had been a clear precondition for a major expansion of the old airport area that a rail-based runway solution had to be built towards Oslo.
Several financial solutions had been proposed, and on this day the Akershus County Council was to make its final decision.
The county councilor had prepared the case and proposed that an automatic railway be established from Fornebu to Lysaker.
But the members of the county council were of a different opinion. A unanimous committee supported a proposal to establish an urban railway.
The majority would bring this into Oslo through a connection to the current tramway network at Skøyen, while the minority would settle for a line to Lysaker in the first instance.
The light rail was to run partly in a tunnel, but on the surface of Fornebulandet. This would provide good surface coverage and accessibility with eight stops.
The light rail was incorporated in the zoning plan for Fornebu, and most of the route is still accessible.
At this time, Bergen had long ago decided to build an urban railway, and in January 2008 they put the shovel in the ground. Years later, after several extensions, the road user was able to travel the 20-kilometer stretch from the city center to Flesland Airport. In November this year, the almost 11 kilometer long line to Fyllingsdalen opens.
In Denmark, people left the house in Odense a few days ago for a celebration opening of the city’s first city railway line of 14.5 kilometers. In recent years, Aarhus has opened to lines, and Copenhagen is in the process of building a city line along the city’s Ring 3, opening in 2025.
Recently, Ruter sent a letter to Oslo Municipality and Viken County where they offer to study alternatives to the subway to Fornebu. Alternatives are proposed, either “self-driving minibuses in tunnels” or “superbuses partially underground”.
It is striking that the previously adopted urban railway alternative is not mentioned in a single word in the letter from Ruter.
Especially because it has always been a prerequisite that the public transport solution to / from Fornebu must have a large capacity as 11,000 homes are planned in the area. Only train, metro or tram / city line can satisfy this condition.
The so-called superbuses have no greater capacity than Oslo’s oldest articulated trams, which are now to be phased out. In this context, minibuses in tunnels can be passed by in silence.
So what do we do with the investments that are already provided?
Much of the investment can be used if you choose a much cheaper urban railway solution via Skøyen and a metro to Majorstuen. The light rail will also need a base at Fornebu, and the started tunnel from Fornebuporten via Lysaker and Vækerø to Skøyen can be used and connected to the tram network at Skøyen.
But the best thing is that a large and expensive rebuilding of Majorstuen station can be shelved. And the question of a new joint tunnel in Oslo can be pushed into the future.