Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 10, 2010

The Follo Line (Follobanen) is a planned 22.5 km high-speed railway between Oslo and Ski, Norway. Running parallel to the Østfold Line, it will be engineered for 200 km/h. Terminal stations will be Oslo Central Station and Ski Station. Most of the railway will run in a tunnel. Construction is estimated to start in 2013, and may be completed by 2018. The Follo Line will increase capacity from twelve to forty trains per hour along the South Corridor, and will allow express and regional trains to decrease travel time from Ski to Oslo from 22 to 11 minutes. The line is prospected to cost NOK11 billion. The project is a continuation of the Norwegian National Rail Administration's plan to build four tracks along the three main corridors out of Oslo; the Gardermoen Line was completed in 1998, and the Asker Line will be completed in 2011. Between 1989 and 1996, the Østfold Line south of Ski to Moss was upgraded to double track and higher speeds. To take full advantage of this and allow the rest of the Østfold Line to be upgraded for high speeds, it is necessary to increase capacity through the bottleneck from Oslo to Ski. The first plans for the Follo Line were launched in 1995, and also included an intermediate station at Vevelstad and Kolbotn. The new line is predicted to increase rush hour rail ridership 63%, and increased freight on rail would remove 750 trucks daily from European Route E18.