Several thousand passengers have taken the bus to the train between Oslo and Skye since 08.15. Bane doesn’t think Follobanen will reopen until Friday as soon as possible. The prestigious NOK 36.8 billion project has been open for just over a week.
A week ago, Follobanen opened – NOK 36 billion after 13 years. With the new line, the journey time for trains between Oslo S and Sky has been cut in half from 22 to 11 minutes. But many travelers have experienced that the course didn’t quite go that way.
Already last week there were several delayed and canceled trains between Oslo S and Sky.
On Monday, there were again major delays on the section between Oslo S and Ski. At 06.40 an earth fault occurred between Oslo S and the Blixtunnel in Gamlebyen. Blixtunnelen is the new 19.5 kilometer tunnel that Folopen runs through.
As a result some departures between Oslo S and Skye were cancelled.
After 5 p.m., Ban Nor reports on their websites Train traffic through the tunnel between Oslo S and Sky will not reopen until Friday night at the earliest.
It is better to take the railway than the new tunnel
A fire broke out in the switch house at the ski station after 08.15. As a result, all rail traffic between Skye and Oslo S was halted.
Aftenposten At 10.30am 150 people queued at the ski station waiting for a bus for the train. One of them is Oliver Shabani. He lives in Oslo and commutes to work in Meissen.
– Now I took a bus from Oslo S and spent an hour more than usual for the whole journey. From here you can get a bus or taxi to Maison. Shabani sighs that I will be delayed further.
Nearly 30 percent of rush-hour trains were delayed or canceled
Sissel Weoy had been standing in the bus queue for almost 30 minutes. She was supposed to meet some friends in Røa at 11.30, but eventually realized that the meeting had not been made.
– I had calculated a lot of time because I thought the train to Oslo S would take 11 minutes, but now I’m too late and I’m abandoning the whole trip, she dejectedly leaves the bus line.
– Money should have been spent on running the trains when they were supposed to, instead of a new tunnel. Weioy says I hope the tall men stuck around so they know what it’s like for us.
Eventually, more buses and taxis arrive, making sure to carry the entire line. Thus, Ole Winter and Idan Engelsson can catch their flight to Tromsø.
Ban Nor’s punctuality statistics show that many of Oslo’s busiest trains were late in December. So far in December, 72 percent of rush hour trains in Oslo have been on time, compared to 82 percent in November.
The target is to have 85 per cent of trains running on time (delays of less than four minutes at the terminus) by 2022.
– It’s tiring and annoying when there are delays like this, but we have no choice, says Winter before boarding the bus.
Fire in junction box
Gunnar Borseth is a press officer at Ban Nor. Just before 2pm, he was able to tell that the Østfold line was running again, but the Folopen line was still closed.
– A fire in a switch house burnt several cables. We must be 100 percent sure that this will not happen again. Therefore, the cause of the fire should be identified first. We are working on it now. It is currently unclear when traffic will resume on Follobanen, says Børseth.
He can say that the underground fault between Oslo S and Blix tunnel has been fixed. Now there is the problem with the ski station itself.
As for the Østfold line, the section will have somewhat reduced capacity.
According to Vy, there is one train per hour from Oslo to Halten and Moss.
– We can run all L23 trains to Skye, but no rush-hour trains to Halden and Moss, says Vy’s communications manager Åge-Christoffer Lundeby.
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