Bit by bit development slows down the trains – Dagsavisen

– The stretch between Tveter and Kjenn was built in 1990 for 130 km/h, which was seen as a very high standard then, says press officer Anne Kirkhusmo in Bane Nor.

– The rest of the stretch between Ski and Sandbukta was developed in various periods under the Double Track Project in the period up to 1996 with a design speed of 160 km/h, she continues.

– The section Oslo-Ski with the Follobanen is built for today’s standard of 200 km/h. (When the ERTMS signaling system is introduced, it will be possible to drive at 250 km/h here, journal note).

– The Sandbukta-Moss stretch is currently under development, adds Kirkhusmo.

– A good example

Rolf Ringdal, leader of the Norwegian Locomotive Drivers’ Association (NLF), confirms what Kirkhusmo states, but also has something to add.

– Speeds on the stretch from Oslo to Moss vary from 200 km/h at most – Follobanen, and down to 130 km/h over Ås and Vestby station, but also 60 km/h in the last 3 kilometers towards Moss – a stretch which is also single-track, says Ringdal.

– The rest of the stretch between Ski and Sandbukta near Moss is designed for 160 km/h. As a result, the average speed is also relatively low, Ringdal points out.

– For the fastest trains – RE20 Oslo – Halden, the average speed on the 60 kilometer stretch is approximately 115 km/h with one stop along the way in 2 minutes at Ski station. Had the entire section been designed for 200 km/h – including the last 3 kilometers to Moss, even with a stop along the way at Ski, you would have had a considerably higher average speed, he states.

– Development of railways has for a long, long time been carried out piecemeal and divided due to a lack of funding for long, comprehensively built sections. The example of the section Oslo – Ski – Moss is a good example of this in that respect, continues Ringdal.

– It has so far taken around 30 years to get a comprehensive double track from Oslo to Moss, and there are still around 3 kilometers of single track to Moss station.

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– Invest in entire sections

– We in the NLF recorded already 15 years ago that one should invest in entire sections – including the entire Østfold railway into Sweden, Ringdal continues.

– That in turn would mean that the Østfold Railway would also play an important role in increasing traffic to Sweden and the rest of Europe – both for passenger traffic and goods.

– Such a venture would also mean that individual double-track parcels were opened at a time, but then it would be part of a coherent venture, he points out.

Kjell Erik Onsrud, leader of the organization For Jernbane, has calculated what would be possible with a coherent development of the railway instead of piece-by-piece development.

– If all the resources had been invested in one section at a time, one would have come significantly further than today. If, for example, everything had been transferred to the Dovrebanen – in addition to what has been built there, Bane Nor would have been able to complete a continuous new double track to Hundorp in Gudbrandsdalen – almost halfway between Oslo and Trondheim, in 3 years.

If all cloths had been installed on the Dovrebanen, it could have taken only 4 hours and 50 minutes by train from Oslo to Trondheim in 2027, compared to almost 7 hours today, according to Onsrud.

– At the same time, nothing had happened on the other sections, he points out.

Onsrud mentions the double track projects Drammen-Tønsberg, Larvik-Porsgrunn, Follobanen and Moss, as examples of such “other sections”.

– This is politics and the desire for geographical distribution, says Onsrud.

– For Jernbane, I believe that when we are soon finished with inner InterCity in Eastern Norway, the large resources should be pooled for one section at a time. We have pointed to the Dovrebanen Hamar-Ålesund-Trondheim-Steinkjer, adds Onsrud.

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– Removes restrictions

For the section Oslo-Moss, work is being done to be able to increase the speed of the trains somewhat.

– We are in the process of optimizing the section by removing limitations in the technical equipment and adjusting the track, says Anne Kirkhusmo in Bane Nor.

– Then sections which currently have a speed sign of 130 km/h can have an increased speed to 160 km/h. On parts of the stretch, the curvature of the track is such that the speed can only be increased to 145 km/h.

But the speed of the trains is determined by more than just the infrastructure.

– It is conditions such as stopping patterns, capacity on the track and timetables that determine the real journey time, Kirkhusmo points out.

– However, we at Bane Nor will continue to work to reduce travel time and increase capacity on the route going forward as well.

She also reminds that the Oslo-Moss section will “eventually” become a continuous double-track railway.

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– More bottlenecks

In order to achieve a high average speed on the trains, the speed must be able to be kept high over longer stretches, points out Holger Schlaupitz, subject manager at the Nature Conservation Association,

– It takes time for a train to accelerate and to slow down. There are several speed bottlenecks in the track network which help to keep the average speed down, says Schlaupitz.

– Some of the bottlenecks between Oslo and Moss are due to the fact that initially there were small visions for the railway. Others are due to cost issues, and it may also be that there has been a need to take special care to avoid encroachment on valuable areas. So there may be good reasons why this occurs.

– Comprehensive planning of longer stretches at a time can help reduce the extent of such bottlenecks, continues Schlaupitz.

– If you only plan bit by bit, it can quickly happen that you lay the path past points that provide speed restrictions that will be difficult to remove later.

– Lack of money is, however, an obstacle to planning and building longer stretches in a continuous manner. This will probably be even more challenging now, as there is a great need to spend money on maintaining and improving the tracks we have, in order to increase capacity and prevent delays.

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