(The following report appeared at Aftenposten.no on July 27.)
OSLO, Norway — High-speed inter-city trains departing every hour. Train travel times halved. Cheaper tickets. These are some of alleged benefits of a new railway network all over southern Norway, proposed by a retired economist this week.
Reducing carbon emission by reducing air traffic in the area by 80 per cent is the main goal of the proposal, economist Didrik Seip told newspaper Aftenposten. He’s delivered a proposal about high-speed train travel to the state agency in charge of Norway’s railroad infrastructure, Jernbaneverket.
Cheap tickets and frequent departures are only two of the crucial elements if travellers are to view the high-speed trains as an alternative to flying, Seip said.
The economist’s proposal was echoed by several parliamentarians’ calls for faster trains from Oslo to the Swedish capital Stockholm.
Conservative politician Gunnar Gundersen of the party Høyre told Aftenposten that a high-speed railway between the two capital cities could reduce much of the air traffic between Norway and Sweden.
He added that the high-speed railway would have to continue to go through his local constituency Kongsvinger, as well as the Swedish city of Karlstad, to ensure growth in those areas.