Follobanen, Railway | Defense for the Folloban
Opinions This is a discussion post. The post expresses the views of the writer.
Many people are furious about what has happened with the Follobanen: overruns with an eventual construction cost of DKK 37 billion to get 11 minutes shorter driving time between Oslo and Ski. And then it doesn’t work either.
Some say that this shows that Norway cannot do this with railways, so we must not think about building the Nord-Norgebanen (but those who say that have hardly ever been for the Nord-Norgebanen).
Well, we should probably wait and see if the Folloban is not a success in the end after the starting problems can hopefully be resolved. Regardless of whether it will be wrong to put the Follobanen as a local train between Oslo and Ski. This is an important part of the railway connection to the cities in Østfold all the way down to Halden and will be able to transfer people from car to train.
The Folloban is also part of the connection from Oslo via Gothenburg to Copenhagen and Central Europe. The Follobanen will thus also strengthen the transport of goods by train, with everything from imports coming to the port of Gothenburg and exports of sea products and other things from Norway.
The Folloban is an investment in more environmentally friendly transport. And when people get angry about the expensive Follobanen, it is reason to remember that the planned new motorway of 4.4 km of the E18 from Lysaker to Ramstadsletta west of Oslo is calculated to cost DKK 18 billion, i.e. a kilometer price at and a half times that of the Folloban.
The ferry-free E39 is estimated at between 300 and 400 billion, and just the partial connection Hordfast will be more expensive than the Follobanen.
In Norway, we can transfer funds from road to rail and can afford both the Follobanen and Nord-Norgebanen.