NORWAY: Implementing measures to maximise capacity and performance would enable Oslo’s T-banen metro to handle predicted ridership growth through to 2050 without the need to build another costly cross-city tunnel, a study has found.
The Oslo city and Akershus local authorities commissioned the study from transport agency Ruter and metro operator Sporveien to support negotiations with the national government on the transport needs associated with a predicted 15% increase in the population of Oslo by 2050 and a 30% increase in Akershus.
The study looked at whether the metro network will be able to handle the increase in services planned as part an ongoing upgrading programme which includes construction of the 8 km Fornebu Line, additional rolling stock and resignalling works, doubling of services on the Grorud and Kolsås lines and longer trains the Lambertseter Line.
‘The recommendation from Ruter and Sporveien is not to proceed with a new city centre tunnel, but rather to prioritise maintenance and upgrading of the current network, and plan for long-term needs’, Ruter CEO Bernt Reitan Jenssen said on April 15. ‘This also gives time to await decisions on which other measures should be implemented.’
CBTC would enable the existing city centre tunnel to run at full capacity with trains every 90 sec. This would also require 10 to 20 more three-car trainsets, and an enhanced maintenance programme to provide the reliability needed to ensure stable operations.
‘The analyses in the report show that long-term capacity challenges can be solved with simpler and more affordable measures than a new city centre tunnel, through more departures on selected routes and new connections that utilise available capacity in the network even better’, said Sporveien CEO Birte Sjule.
The study says the authorities should revisit the question of capacity in five to 10 years, when a clearer idea of likely growth will be available.
‘It is the travellers, motorists and residents who pay for development projects. Therefore, it is good news for everyone who travels by public transport, drives a car and pays taxes that the experts believe that the current metro network in Oslo and Akershus can be used much more efficiently’, said Håkon Snortheim, Councillor for Transport in Akershus. ‘But the report does not mean that the time for investments in our metro network is over.’