Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 40, 2014

The Fornebu Line (Fornebubanen) is a proposed rail line which would serve the peninsula of Fornebu in Bærum, Norway. The line is in the planning stages and the transit agency Ruter is working towards connecting it to the Oslo Metro. The line has at various stages been proposed as a automated people mover, tram-train, tramway, light rail, stadtbahn, rapid transit, bus rapid transit and commuter rail. The current proposal consists of a metro line starting at Majorstuen Station and running entirely in a tunnel for 8150 m. Plans for a light rail to Fornebu were first launched in 1919, but at the time there was not the population to support it. Oslo Airport, Fornebu opened in 1939, and from the 1980s the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) proposed serving it with a branch of the Drammen Line. A 1986 report from said agency also looked at a people mover to a proposed new terminal. In 1992 Parliament voted to close the airport and build Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. Fornebu closed in 1998 and the area was to enter into a period of redevelopment. However, the zoning plans state that full-scale development of 6,000 residences and between 15,000 and 25,000 jobs cannot take place until a rail transit has been established. After discarding proposals for a railway and a tram-train, Akershus County Municipality planned a people mover to Lysaker Station. This was approved of in 2004, but in 2007 the county changed its opinion and instead opted for a connection to the Oslo Tramway, allowing direct access to the city center. Ruter took over the planning in 2008 and followed up with additional reports. It instead recommended that the site be served by a metro. It cited that estimates showed that no other transit systems will have sufficient capacity in the long run. The project is estimated to cost 4.5 billion Norwegian krone, but there is no fixed schedule for construction.