Railways in the north, Transport in Northern Norway

On 22 April, three northern Norwegian and two nationwide organizations gathered in Eidsvolls plass. Their mission – to say as Ole Tobias Olsen, the father of the Nordlandsbanen, put it – was, among other things, to make central areas familiar with the colony.

The three northern Norwegians is the Action Group for Nord-Norgebanen, (Nordland), Jernbane Nord AS, (Troms) and the Troms Committee for Railways, (Troms). The two national ones are Besteparentes climate action BKA and For Jernbane, which also publishes the journal “For Jernbane”. Understandably, it is an attempt to disseminate information about Norway’s most important transport project, the Nord-Norgebanen, part of the main line through Northern Norway. At the same time, they are trying to get clarity on how many of our Storting representatives are really concerned about Northern Norway, and Norway in general, and what their attitude is to the matter.

Shall we be realistically, it is getting close to the point where it is only our alternating political central authorities and their tails that are frantically working towards this project. More and more people realize that if we are to be prepared through civil and military measures, a railway throughout the country is a necessity. More and more people are realizing that the need for transport – and especially after the EU implements its punitive measures – calls for a railway. More and more people realize that climate change is real, and that we are forced to do something, both to reduce the development and to continue to function in the unknown consequences of this development. In other words, we can assume that we know a little, i.a. “warmer, wetter, wilder”, and where “wilder” i.a. can mean periods with an enormous amount more precipitation such as snow, which a modern railway will cope with much better than both road traffic and aircraft.

In the fight against railway construction seems i.a. The Norwegian Automobile Association NAF, taken into use. There we find a long epic that undercuts most of what goes on around us on the globe, and forgets the connections. We’re just going to build roads, because now the electric cars have taken over, and they’re completely emission-free, etc. There’s so much that’s missing on the minus side here, that it makes you cringe.

On average, we can neither have a car per person, or 400 m² housing for two or three people. Or two or three southern holidays for the year. This is actually the case, and applies to e.g. also unlimited battery production.

Just to mention a few things: Should our tanks and heavy artillery be transported by Tesla or BYD? Where will the asphalt eventually come from when oil extraction is throttled down and the asphalt lakes run out, or what will we use as road, street and airport paving? And has the optimistic originator of the car promotion thought about the sad fact (unfortunately forgotten by most) that if we are to have the slightest chance of slowing climate change, current, increasing production activities cannot continue. On average, we can neither have a car per person, or 400 m² housing for two or three people. Or two or three southern holidays for the year. This is actually the case, and applies to e.g. also unlimited battery production.

In addition, we have the tremendous pressure on nature, which has exploded in recent years. Many years ago, the undersigned said: “Offer those with the longest May 17th bow a krone in profit per m² to pave ‘Our Beautiful Land’, and the queue will be the same from here until tomorrow”. This has manifested itself, and they are queuing up to raze ‘Our Beautiful Land’ from Lindesnes to the Nordkapp with “emission-free” wind power. But they make money like grass, and the leveling off of climate deterioration is still just as far away.

From former boss for the Army, General Robert Mood, we get this little reminder in Saturday’s Nordlys, for example. (Mood has previously shown that his package does not only include military knowledge, but a total insight that many may envy him). The journalist writes, among other things: “Mood paints a picture of Putin and his generals sitting in the Kremlin and analyzing who and where to attack. – If they see that we are well prepared with a railway with two tracks and roads that are connected, then there is no point in trying to destabilize Tromsø in an attempt to create uncertainty for the government in Oslo”.

Can we hope on mature authorities who – instead of ultimately wasting large parts of the oil fund – rather invest a fraction of it in giving the country longer endurance in the climate fight, and a better defense capability, by expanding the railway’s long-distance stretches in the north and upgrade them in the rest of the country? Are they simply unable to see the huge advantage the Armed Forces gain by being able to deploy their heavier weapons more quickly? The value of tanks and heavy artillery can perhaps be doubled?

And – just for to mention a couple of details in this context – has anyone from the Armed Forces and from the construction sector looked at what opportunities for rapid rehabilitation the use of pontoon bridges (with a number of pontoons in reserve) can provide in the event of acts of war or accidents, compared to long fountain pens? Blue. we have Tysfjord, where such bridges have previously been proposed.

With great facts 15 billion is reported for a disposal fund for Northern Norway, (managed by thin threads from the south?). These are glossy images for approx. 0.9 per thousand of the oil fund’s amount, while we still have grossly substandard traffic in the north. The amount would be far better suited as the first down payment on Nord-Norgebanen. (With 0.9 per cent of the oil fund, Nord-Norgebanen would be well on its way to Tromsø, without the siding to Harstad).

Is it time? to repeat Tordenskjold’s words to his Swedish counterpart in Marstrand, where the term “Tordenskjold’s soldiers” originates, (and which is hardly true, historically speaking): “The time has come, what are you waiting for?”.

• PS: Messages and reports indicate an otherwise successful event at Eidsvolls plass, with three representatives of the Storting in attendance, Frp and SV from Troms, Rødt from Nordland, while the media and other politicians mostly found Norway’s most important transport project uninteresting.