Feasibility Study Concerning

High-Speed Railway Lines

in Norway

4 Technical Aspects of High-Speed-Traffic

4.1 Basics

Due to relatively small traffic demand (see market study), investments and operation costs
have to be minimised in order to achieve a positive result in a cost-benefit-analysis.
That can be done for example

• by integration of existing infrastructure in agglomeration areas,

• by integration of existing services, esp. in the Oslo area and
• by designing single tracked high-speed lines outside the agglomeration areas.

The first two points will be shown in chapter 5 (Regard of Corridors).

Planning of Single-Track-High-Speed-Lines is a new challenge because there are no

existing Single-Track-High-Speed-Lines up to now.
Very important components of Single-Track-High-Speed-Lines are crossing- or passing-
sections. Length of these sections depends on
- the speed of the trains,
- if trains are stopping or being passed/crossed without stopping and
- necessary buffer-times for a stabile schedule.

As different operating concepts cause different infrastructure layout (e.g. crossing sections
at another point of the line) it is compulsory that infrastructure and operation planning for
High-Speed-Lines on single-track-lines is done together. This is not only required for the
High-Speed-Service isolated, but for all affected traffic. Feeder services have to be coor-
dinated with the High-Speed-Timetables as part of an integrated system.

In the following chapter 4.2 the technical boundary conditions of High-Speed-Rail-Traffic

will be explained and in chapter 4.3 the influences of these aspects on operational plan-
ning on High-Speed-Single-Track-Lines will be shown. In chapter 4.4 some challenges
due to safety aspects of single-track-lines will be discussed.

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4.2 Technical Boundary Conditions

The basic boundary conditions are fixed in the “Technical Specifications for the Interop-
erability” (TSI) of European High-Speed-Rail-Systems [3]. Therefore only the most impor-
tant aspects will be discussed in the following chapters.

Freight Transport and Gradients

The first question to be answered is which transport-modes shall be run on the High-
Speed-Network. If it is planned only for passenger-transport, it can be constructed on one
side with lower investment costs due to smaller radii, higher gradients and lower axle-
loads. On the other side, freight-traffic can increase income by higher use of the network.

For the utilisation of a line for freight traffic the based maximum gradient is very impor-
tant. It should be no higher than 12.5 ‰ to run heavy freight trains. The first two High-
Speed-Railway-Lines in Germany from Hanover to Würzburg and from Mannheim to
Stuttgart were constructed for mixed traffic. Operation showed, however, that the high air
pressure in the tunnels can cause accidents with not well-fixed load. Therefore the Ger-
man directive for fire and emergency protection in long Railway-Tunnels [4] interdicts the
operation of passenger and freight traffic in tunnels at the same time. A third aspect is the
operation of freight trains on High-Speed-Lines. The difference in speed between High-
Speed-Passenger-Service and freight-service is very high. Due to that, freight traffic di-
minishes the capacity of a line and causes the necessity to overtake freight trains by pas-
senger trains. As the freight trains need a wide slot between the passenger trains there is
often only one slot an hour available what means that the freight trains are standing for a
long time before they go on to the next passing section where they stand again. The daily
operation showed that the average speed is often much lower than on the old conven-
tional lines where capacity increased because passenger traffic is on the High-Speed-Line
now.
So freight traffic on High-Speed-Lines is only possible and reasonable during the night. As
there are only very few hours during the night where there is no passenger transport, the
capacity for freight transport on High-Speed-Lines is very low.

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Due to all these aspects not a single freight train has used these lines in the last 10 years
even not in the night and the newer High-Speed-Lines in Germany are constructed only
for passenger transport. Other countries in Europe have about the same experiences,
therefore only France has some kind of freight traffic with converted TGVs for mail-
service, all the other countries are running only passenger trains on their High-Speed-
Lines.

In Norway it might be possible to run freight trains on the High-Speed-Lines as capacity

utilisation on the planned High-Speed-Lines is – due to the relatively low demand – not
that high. But this will cause additional passing sections or connections with the existing
lines. if there are parallel ones, and increases therefore investment costs. The decision to
include freight traffic on High-Speed-Lines has to be proved very well with developing a
detailed operation concept to verify the economical benefit on a good data basis.

If freight traffic remains on the existing lines where capacity is rising when introducing new
High-Speed-Lines. the maximum gradient can be up to 40 ‰. That opens the chance to
adapt the alignment to topography in a better way and allows lower construction costs.
But long ramps with 40 ‰ decrease the speed remarkable.

The following figure shows the different acceleration distances which are necessary at
different gradients to reach a maximum speed of 300 kph for ICE 3 and TGV Atlantic
which have very similar characteristics.

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Figure 4-1: Maximum Speed by different gradients

Maximum Speed by different Gradients of ICE 3/ TGV Atlantique

300

250

200
Speed [kph]

150

Acceleration to maximum speed (0 ‰)

100
Acceleration to maximum speed (12,5 ‰)

Acceleration to maximum speed (25 ‰)

50
Acceleration to maximum speed (40 ‰)

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Distance [km]

Even in flat areas the trains need 15 kilometres to accelerate to 300 kph. At a gradient of
12.5 ‰ the trains reach a maximum speed of 280 kph and with gradients of 25 and 40 ‰
the maximum reachable speed is 220 kph respectively 170 kph.
This shows that on long ramps with high gradients speed is going down. High gradients
should therefore only be realised on short ramps (see also TSI [3]).

In flat areas trains need an acceleration distance of about 3.5 km to speed up to 200 kph
and about 7.5 km to reach 250 kph. As the train should hold the maximum speed for a
while before breaking starts (energy consumption), the minimum distance between to
stops should be about 10 km at the maximum speed of 200 kph and about 20 km at a
maximum speed of 250 kph. In higher gradients these distances are increasing because
of longer acceleration distances.
For the short stopping distances in the greater Oslo Area this means that maximum speed
shouldn’t rise over 200 to 250 kph.

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Radii

The possible minimum radii on a High-Speed-Line depend on the comfort for the passen-
gers, whether it is only passenger-service or freight-service as well, and on the super-
structure. The following table shows the minimum radii for mixed traffic and passenger
traffic for speeds between 200 and 300 kph on rigid slab track superstructure. On stan-
dard ballast superstructure the radii are even higher.

Table 4-1: Minimum Radii depending on different speeds [3]

Minimum Radius
Technical Specifications for Interoperability for High-Speed-Railways (TSI)

Passenger
Speed Passenger Trains
and Freight Trains

V [ kph ] R[m] R[m]

200 1’686 1’573

250 2’634 2’458

300 3’793 3’540

Knolls and Bowls

If the gradient is changing there are radii to be put in between. For a higher comfort for the
passengers these radii are quite high. Table 4-2 shows the radii for different speeds.

Table 4-2: Radii of Knolls and Bowls [4]

Radii of Knolls and Bowls

Deutsche Bahn (Koril 800)

Speed Standard Value

V [ kph ] R[m]

200 16’000
250 25’000

300 36’000

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As the radius is 25.000 m at a speed of 250 kph and 36.000 m at a speed of 300 kph it is
not that easy to follow the gradient in the landscape. In figure 4-2 the lengths of these
bowls are shown for the speeds of 250 and 300 kph. At a speed of 250 kph the distance
to connect an up going gradient of 40 ‰ with a down going gradient of 40 ‰ is 2.000 m.
At a speed of 300 kph the distance increases to 2.880 m.

Figure 4-2: Necessary distances for bowls between gradients

As all described parameters as radii, radii in knolls and bowls, costs of vehicles and also
energy consumption are growing exponential by increasing speed, impacts on landscape
and nature as well as costs are raising even more. That means: Very high speed is in
most cases not the best solution. There is to be found an optimum between useful speed
and reasonable costs and impacts.

Out of all these boundary conditions there has to be developed an integrated High-Speed-
System which considers the specifics of the Norwegian structure as topography, climate,
traffic demand etc.

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4.3 Operation

As explained in chapter 4.1 the High-Speed-Network has to integrate Norway’s existing

IC-Network to embed the potentials of the agglomeration area around Oslo and it has to
use the already existing High-Speed-Sections and the segments which are under con-
struction to minimise operation and investment costs. As a result out of that the High-
Speed-Rail-Network will be with double track to Østfold, Vestfold and towards Hamar. All
other lines should be single track lines due to the low investment costs. These single track
High-Speed-Lines should be given a special consideration because they are only working
with an operation concept which is already developed during the planning and with a very
stabile schedule. A change of the schedule later is almost impossible.

The following examples will explain this very clearly. A line from Oslo to Trondheim for
instance needs almost five crossing sections (see figure 4-3).

Figure 4-3: Schedule and crossing sections

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If the departure of the trains in Oslo will change only for ten minutes each direction which
is the next possible slot between the Gardermoen-Traffic or 20 minutes in one direction,
that causes the necessity of moving the crossing-sections by around 40 kilometres (see
figure 4-4).

Figure 4-4: Effects of changing schedule to crossing sections

NEW
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It is also difficult to plan single stops for only a few trains as shown below, because then
the train has to start earlier and also the crossing sections are changing.
Therefore single and not regular stops are only possible for the first and the last trains a
day (see figure 4-5).

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Figure 4-5: Effects of additional stops to crossing sections

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00 00

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Therefore a central part of the infrastructure planning is to take into consideration the
crossing sections, where they have to be located and as well how long they have to be.
They can be quite short, when one or both trains are stopping or have to be rather long
when both trains continue with high speed.
If at least one of the trains stops, the minimum length of a crossing section is about 3.5 to
4.0 km, but the stopping train then sustains a loss of running time of about 5.5 minutes
when the maximum speed is 250 kph. Six stops for crossings mean half an hour loss of
time. The question is if it is reasonable on one hand to spend a huge amount of money for
a High-Speed-Track to get short travel times when on the other hand travel time will be
lost again by many stops for crossings.
For example a High-Speed-Train needs 2 hours for a 300 km long line with 2 stops at sta-
tions in between which is an average speed of 150 kph (maximum speed 250 kph). With
additional 6 stops at crossing sections the average speed is going down to 120 kph.

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Another very important part of the schedule are the buffer times. On single-track-lines the
trains have to be absolutely in time and some delay has to be covered by buffer times.
Especially on single-track-lines buffers are of outstanding importance. Delays because of
longer stops at a station (e.g. by a lot of more passengers of a skiing group), small techni-
cal problems like a blocked door or a train which does not accelerate as usual, must be
taken into account. These delays have to be intercepted within the calculated timetable or
it is ongoing for the whole day. With delay of one train the next accommodating train has
to wait on the previous crossing section and gets delay too. This is growing and timetable
will not return to normal operation until the end of the daily service. There has to be a
“normal” buffer time on every partial running time as well as an added “special” buffer time
for extraordinary circumstances. The normal buffer time is about 5 % of the partial running
time, the special buffer time should reach one to three minutes between two crossing sec-
tions (details will be fixed while constructing the timetable in phase 2).

There are different types of crossing sections possible.

The first possibility is to construct crossing sections as rhomboid. Here both trains have to
slow down to at least 160 kph (speed on the switches). This means longer running time
for both trains. In this alternative a shorter length of the crossing section can be reached if
both trains slow down early at the beginning of the crossing section. If both trains are run-
ning with High-Speed until the necessary braking point for the switches there is a very
small loss of running time but the crossing sections get longer (plus 10 km).
The second possibility are crossing sections as trapezium. Here only one train slows
down to 160 kph. This means a longer running time only for one train but more length for
the crossing section (compared with the type rhomboid with longer reduction of speed).
The third possibility is also of type rhomboid. Assuming that one train stops it is possible
to minimise the length of the crossing section by getting a greater loss of running time for
the stopping train.

In figure 4-6 operation on a crossing section of trapezium type with both trains running
without stop is shown. Here a buffer time of two minutes is assumed.

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Figure 4-6: Operation on crossing section without stop

t0 = 0s 2588 m 14406 m

250 250
16619 m

17319 m
t1 = 45,5s 11250 m

160 250

t2 = 65,7s 9844 m

250

160

500 m
t3 = 390,3s
12693 m

250

t4 = 506,5s 17119 m
160

20762 m

250 250

21183 m

If one of the trains is breaking down only to 160 kph which is the maximum speed on
switches and the other train is passing with maximum speed, the crossing section then
has to have a length of about 17.3 km and the loss of running time for the braking train is
2 min 45 s.

Resulting length of crossing sections and loss of running time is shown in table 4-3.

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Table 4-3: Length of crossing sections and loss of running time

Type Speed [kph] Buffer time Length [km] Loss of running

[min] time [min]
Trapezium 250 1 13.2 2.4 1)
250 2 17.3 2.7 1)
Rhomboid 250 1 8.3 1.5 2)
(early braking) 250 2 11.0 1.8 2)
Rhomboid (late 250 1 15.3 0.7 2)
braking) 250 2 19.4 0.7 2)
Trapezium (with 250 1 4.2 4.5 1)
stop) 250 2 4.2 5.5 1)
1)
For the braking train
2)
For every train

Planning of a High-Speed-Network is influenced from the existing network by track-

connections, feeder-traffic etc. As there are a lot of bottlenecks in the existing network like
the Oslo-Tunnel and all single-track-sections, planning a High-Speed-Network means
planning an operation concept almost for the whole Norwegian railway-offer.

4.4 Safety Aspects of Single-Track-Lines

In general single-track-lines show the same level of technical safety as double-track-lines.

Modern signalling systems will cause no problems on single-track-lines. But there is not to
be forgotten: the human factor. Nearly all accidents on single-track-lines are determined
by handling mistakes in extraordinary situations. Therefore here have to be more addi-
tional systems to avoid human handling errors.

Safety aspects of long tunnels lead to extensive rescue systems. At least every 800 m
there has to be an evacuation route. Having a big vertical cover this means extensive
buildings to bring people to the surface. But then they will be just in the mid of nowhere,
difficult to reach and therefore having a long time to wait for help. It has to be decided if it
is the better way to build double-track-tunnels to use one of the tubes as emergency-route
in case of accident. Having a rigid slab track the tunnel can be used by emergency vehi-
cles to reach the point of accident bringing help just to where it is needed.

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As shown in chapter 4.3 an hourly service on a 460 km line means 4 to 5 crossing sec-
tions only for the High-Speed-Service. To avoid decrease of speed (and therewith longer
running time) this means some 80 to 100 km of double-track-line at least (15 to 25 %).
Combining the High-Speed-Service with local traffic and / or freight traffic on the same
tracks even more crossing and passing sections are needed. Combined with the discus-
sion about double-track-lines in (long) tunnel sections this means that a great part of the
new lines will be double-track-lines.

4.5 Running Time Calculation

For calculation of running times the program “PULZUFA” [6] is used. This program needs
data of infrastructure and vehicles as follows.
Infrastructure-data:
- length of line,
- gradients,
- radii of curves,
- allowed velocities in different sections and
- stations.
Vehicle-data:
- length of train,
- mass of train,
- friction-mass of train,
- running-resistances,
- acceleration factors,
- deceleration factors,
- traction-power-velocity-diagram and
- braking-power-velocity-diagram.
An example for the result of running time calculation is shown in figure 4-7 for the High-
Speed-Line Mannheim – Stuttgart.

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Figure 4-7: Calculation of running time High-Speed-Line Mannheim - Stuttgart

Rollenberg-
Forsttunnel tunnel Anschl.
Mannheim Hbf Pfingstberg- Bruschsal
tunnel
250

Tunnel Markstein- Pulverdinger Tunnel

Freudenstein tunnel Tunnel Langes Feld Anschl.

Stuttgart Hbf
Vaihingen/Enz Bf Zuffenhausen

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5 Regard of Corridors
5.1 Basics

As it is shown in the Market Study, the potentials for High-Speed-Rail are – compared to
existing Systems in Europe – relatively low and only lines with low costs and relatively
high demand will offer the chance of a positive result in a cost benefit analysis. Therefore
it will be useful to include the regional traffic of the existing IC-Net to increase the
demand and to save operation costs and to integrate the existing or planned new lines
with a speed of 160 kph to 200 kph to save investment costs.
These lines are
- the Gardermobanen,
- between Sandvika and Asker,
- along Vestfoldbanen,
- between Eidsvoll and Hamar (Sørli) and
- between Oslo and Moss (Rygge).

Building completely new lines directly out of Oslo S which would allow higher speeds of
250 kph or more will reduce travel times but they are extremely expensive and will affect a
cost-benefit-analysis negatively in comparison of using the existing lines listed above.

A result of the relatively low demand is also that the lines outside of greater Oslo have to
be built as single-track-lines, because the train-frequencies are not that high and invest-
ment-costs can be saved.

As it is not useful to plan a whole network at once, it has to be decided which corridors
and which alignment in the corridors are to be preferred.
The study group sees their task for the study in finding a starting point for High-
Speed-Rail in Norway and to show a way to start rather soon. Therefore corridors
have to be found where the chance of realisation is the highest and the problems to
be solved are the lowest. That does not mean that the corridors which are not cho-
sen to take in the investigation are worse for instance by regarding travel demand. but
they either are more expensive to built or there are different alternatives which have to be
compared in detail to find the best of these.

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5.2 Investment Costs

Detailed cost-calculations based on Norwegian cost rates are part of Phase 2. The cost-
calculation will be carried out as a risk-analysis of costs according to Jernbaneverkets
method of cost-calculations for feasibility studies.

Although tunnel construction in Norway might be less expensive compared to cost rates
on the European continent (because of Norwegian rock quality), it is not only tunnel costs
that make alternatives through mountainous areas more expensive. There are more
bridges to be built and there are also galleries necessary to avoid damages by rockfall
and avalanches. For long tunnels there is a rescue-concept to be worked out that means
that there has to be built an additional rescue-tunnel or long tunnels have to be built with
two tubes. This increases costs for lines in mountainous areas as well.

For the following choice of corridors a rough calculation of investment costs based on
German cost rates for railway projects was done. Due to cheaper Norwegian tunnel cost
rates this special rate was reduced.

5.3 Choice of Corridors for further Investigation

The market study shows that the corridors to Bergen and Trondheim have about the same
level of demand and there are also alternatives for both corridors.
To Bergen there are possible alignments
• through Hallingdalen,
• through Numedalen and
• across Haukelifjellet
and to Trondheim are alternatives
• through Gudbrandsdalen and
• through Østerdalen.
There different alternatives are shown in the annex with the figures 5.1 and 5.2.

All the alternatives to Bergen and the line through Gudbrandsdalen need long tunnels
which add up to more than 100 km even if the lines are build across the mountains.

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Østerdalen vs. Gudbrandsdalen

Investment costs

The line through Østerdalen with a connection between Tynset and Ullsberg/Berkaak can
be realised with relatively low tunnel shares. The valley has an U-shape compared to the
Gudbrandsdalen which is more a V-Shape. Therefore it is more space in Østerdalen to
built a High-Speed-Line than in Gudbrandsdalen and in Gudbrandsdalen there are more
galleries and additional tunnels necessary to avoid impacts from rock-fall and avalanches.

Most of the regional passenger-traffic as well as freight-traffic is running through Gud-

brandsdalen. To built a High-Speed-Railway-Line in Gudbrandsdalen means to consider
the daily traffic during construction. Experiences from realised railway-lines show that this
might increase construction costs by more than 50 %. In Østerdalen the new High-Speed-
Line can be realised separated from the existing line in most parts. Because of low local
demand it might be possible to close it down in parts during construction of the High-
Speed-Line.
Therefore the line through Østerdalen can be realised with rather low costs compared to
all other alternatives above listed.

Demand and offer

The potentials in Gudbrandsdalen are a bit higher than in Østerdalen but they will not jus-
tify regular stops because there is no concentrated potential along the valley, only smaller
villages and towns. Stopping regularly along Gudbrandsdalen (e.g. Ringebu, Otta, Dom-
bås) has negative influence on the cost-benefit-result because the higher potentials in
long-distance-relations sustain longer travel-times.

From Gudbrandsdalen there is the possibility to realise a connection to Møre with the ma-
jor towns of Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund. But it will be too expensive to access all
these towns to High-Speed-Rail and even to built a line to one of them will be rather costly
because of the difficult topography. There is a feeder-traffic necessary then for the others
to access to HSR and then the rail will not be competitive to air-traffic. Compared to the
estimated costs, the potentials are not high enough to influence a cost-benefit-result posi-
tively.

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As the task of the study is, to find the line where the chance for a positive result in a cost-
benefit-analysis is highest, the access of Møre does not give advantages to Gudbrands-
dalen.
This perception is also supported by the study of Asplan Viak AS [AV-1993].

Impacts

High-Speed-Rail will create negative environmental impacts in Gudbrandsdalen probably

more than in Østerdalen. E.g. less people will be polluted by noise in Østerdalen than in
Gudbrandsdalen. There will be no benefits as regular stops and coverage of demand to
compensate the negative impacts in the valleys. The higher demand in Gudbrandsdalen,
however, allows a good feeder-traffic to High-Speed-Rail in Hamar. The study group pre-
fers a regular schedule-offer for Gudbrandsdalen and the area between Lillehammer and
Hamar with coupling of trains south of Hamar which allows good connections to High-
Speed-Rail and short travel-times to Oslo without changing trains.

Detailed operation-concepts will be worked out in Phase 2 and the line will be evaluated
within a cost-benefit-analysis.

Kristiansand vs. Gøteborg

An also rather high level of traffic demand when including the regional traffic in the IC-
Area are the corridors
• Oslo – Drammen – Skien/Porsgrunn – Kristiansand and
• Oslo – Halden – Gøteborg.
In the corridor to Kristiansand there already existing parts of line with possible speeds up
to 200 kph between Oslo and Tønsberg and more sections are under construction or in
planning. There are also plans for a direct connection between Larvik and Porsgrunn and
between Porsgrunn/Skien and the existing line to Kristiansand (Greenlandsbanen). Al-
though it is planned to upgrade or partly new built the whole line between Oslo and Pors-
grunn, the rest of the line between Skien/Porsgrunn and Kristiansand is very difficult and
expensive to built because this is a very hilly area with not very high mountains but the
valleys are mostly crossing the new line nearly rectangle and cannot be used for a rather
low-priced alignment like for instance in Østerdalen. As it was shown in Chapter 4 it is not

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possible to follow the gradient in such an area by a High-Speed-Line. Therefore will be a

lot of tunnels and bridges necessary making construction expensive.

In the corridor from Oslo to Halden and Gøteborg there are planned as well as existing
High-Speed-Sections between Oslo and Moss and on the Swedish side construction of
High-Speed-Rail for the section Gøteborg – Trollhättan is planned finish 2011. There are
studies for exceeding High-Speed-Rail towards Norway until Ed. As this line connects
Norway to the European High-Speed-Network and is part of the Trans-European-Network
(TEN) it is of certain priority. For the Norwegian part there is only a rather short section to
be built to get the line completed. To shorten travel times should be found a new align-
ment between Moss and Halden with a new station between Frederikstad and Sarpsborg
for both cities.
In this corridor new passengers will change more from car and bus to train than from
plane. Therefore in comparison of the two mentioned corridors, the corridor to Gøteborg
has to be preferred. The suggested alignment is shown in the annex (figure 5.3).

Stavanger

The potentials between Oslo and Stavanger can be covered by the two corridors via Ber-
gen and Kristiansand. There are various alternatives to integrate this corridor into a pref-
erably economical basic network which have to be worked out more in detail to find the
best solution and it is questionable if there is an economically reasonable solution.
This is also considered for the corridor between Bergen and Stavanger where we have
the lowest traffic demand out of the lines of the basic network but the highest cost for the
tunnel to be built to cross Buknafjorden.

Stockholm

The corridor between Oslo and Stockholm was not considered in detail because it de-
pends very much from what the Swedish Railways are planning and where they decide to
cross the border. There are no planned High-Speed-Lines on the Swedish side, Varm-
landsbanan towards Oslo, and there is only a very short part of line to be planned on the
Norwegian side. There are only small potentials to be considered on this part. Although
the potentials in air-traffic are rather high – also compared with the corridor to Gøteborg –

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there is no priority for this corridor in this study. Of course the connection between Oslo
and Stockholm has to be part of a Scandinavian High-Speed-Railway Net but this line is
not meaningful for this feasibility study concerning High-Speed-Rail in Norway.

5.4 Integrated Concepts

An integrated concept means careful consideration of the aspects

Infrastructure - Vehicles - Services - Operations

High-Speed-Railway-Lines must be regarded as an integrated concept.

Infrastructure

Running high-speed (e.g. 300 kph or even more) means high costs for infrastructure,
vehicles and energy. The speed has to fit to stop patterns and landscape. Acceleration up
to 300 kph will not reduce travel times when the train has to stop every 20 or 30 km. High
potential for environmental negative impacts also means higher costs for bridges, tunnels
and other artificial buildings.
Economical efficiency on one hand is increasing by shorter travel times, but can on the
other hand also decrease by higher investment costs because of high speed.

Vehicles

To limit costs for investments of vehicles and energy consumption, the installed power is
not to be defined for holding maximum speed in every part of the line. It is more economi-
cal to accept reduced speed on long ramps – like in all European High-Speed-Railway
Nets – although running time increases. Regarding maximum speed and stop-patterns as
well as maximum travel times to be competitive with air-traffic an optimum has to be found
to get an economical and attractive offer on High-Speed-Rail.

Operations and services

On the one hand operations must be planned in such way that feeder systems are con-
nected to the High-Speed-Lines with small changing times. Also coupling of trains of dif-
ferent lines for parts of lines to a common train gives a chance to access conventional
lines to High-Speed-Services.

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
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in Norway

On the other hand it should be avoided to transmit problems and restraints (for instance
delays) from the conventional lines to the High-Speed-Lines.
Operation also depends on the built infrastructure and this is even more important in nets
with single track lines. Hence, an operation concept has to be developed together with the
planning of infrastructure. The planning of infrastructure cannot be limited to the planned
High-Speed-Lines because connections to conventional lines and feeder services have to
be considered as well. Feeder services are often part of integrated systems themselves
like local traffic in Oslo.

As shown in chapter 4.3 introducing High-Speed-Rail in fact means developing a new

operation concept for the whole railway net in Norway.

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
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in Norway

6 Conclusion

The result of Phase 1 of the “Feasibility Study concerning High-Speed-Railway-Lines in

Norway” shows
 that market potentials even in the core corridors are relatively low compared to other
European countries;
 nevertheless High-Speed-Railway Lines seem to be possible in principle but have to
be constructed with specific boundary conditions such as single-track lines;
 due to low traffic demand strong cost efficiency for infrastructure and operation is rec-
ommended.
This means that only in corridors with combination of relatively high traffic demand and
low investment and operating costs a positive result in a cost-benefit-analysis can be ex-
pected.
The corridors to Bergen and Trondheim have about the same (higher) level of demand. In
both corridors are in total five thinkable lines. The lines to Bergen and the line to Trond-
heim via Gudbrandsdalen and Dovrefjellet need about 100 km of tunnel construction. Only
the line to Trondheim via Østerdalen can be realised with relatively low tunnel and bridge
shares and therefore can be realised with low investment costs.
For the corridors with also comparable (relative low) demand to Halden and Kristiansand
the corridor to Halden (Gøteborg) enables the connection to the European High-Speed-
Net and therefore has to be preferred. Additional to that in the corridor to Kristiansand
more new High-Speed-Sections have to be built in a difficult area.
In the corridor to Stavanger traffic demand seems to be too low to build a specific High-
Speed-Line for its own. There are various alternatives to integrate this corridor into a pref-
erably economical basic network which have to be worked out in more detail to find the
best solution.

That doesn’t mean that the corridors which are not chosen for further study in the
first step are senseless, but the corridor Oslo – Trondheim should be studied first
to give an indication of the efficiency of the other corridors.
The study group therefore suggests going on in phase 2 of the study with the in-
vestigation of the corridors
 Oslo – Trondheim and
 Oslo – Halden (Gøteborg).
In a further step there will be additional investigations for the corridor to Bergen
and Stavanger.

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
High-Speed Railway Lines
in Norway

7 Annex

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
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Annex 3.1

Figure 3.1: Traffic Zones of UIC – Passenger Traffic Study

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
High-Speed Railway Lines
in Norway

Annex 3.2

Figure 3.2: Development of Population by Regions and Age Classes

Development of Population by Regions 2005-2020

Fylke Age class 2005 2020 Growth
Norway 4 606 363 5 045 056 9.5%
Norway 0-5 years 349 626 353 815 1.2%
Norway 6-12 years 432 856 406 897 -6.0%
Norway 13-15 years 188 544 182 406 -3.3%
Norway 16-19 years 227 335 248 065 9.1%
Norway 20-44 years 1 589 361 1 632 816 2.7%
Norway 45-66 years 1 214 707 1 430 741 17.8%
Norway 67-79 years 390 779 578 266 48.0%
Norway 80 years or more 213 155 212 050 -0.5%
01 Østfold 258 542 289 631 12.0%
01 Østfold 0-5 years 18 437 18 851 2.2%
01 Østfold 6-12 years 23 695 22 963 -3.1%
01 Østfold 13-15 years 10 259 10 604 3.4%
01 Østfold 16-19 years 12 311 14 530 18.0%
01 Østfold 20-44 years 85 098 88 295 3.8%
01 Østfold 45-66 years 71 953 85 959 19.5%
01 Østfold 67-79 years 24 406 35 860 46.9%
01 Østfold 80 years or more 12 383 12 569 1.5%
02 Akershus 494 218 569 982 15.3%
02 Akershus 0-5 years 40 548 40 286 -0.6%
02 Akershus 6-12 years 50 738 49 145 -3.1%
02 Akershus 13-15 years 21 804 22 535 3.4%
02 Akershus 16-19 years 24 463 30 031 22.8%
02 Akershus 20-44 years 168 615 176 825 4.9%
02 Akershus 45-66 years 132 227 167 863 27.0%
02 Akershus 67-79 years 38 637 61 735 59.8%
02 Akershus 80 years or more 17 186 21 562 25.5%
03 Oslo 529 846 609 197 15.0%
03 Oslo 0-5 years 41 827 45 013 7.6%
03 Oslo 6-12 years 38 103 42 520 11.6%
03 Oslo 13-15 years 15 690 17 818 13.6%
03 Oslo 16-19 years 19 726 24 553 24.5%
03 Oslo 20-44 years 226 929 252 163 11.1%
03 Oslo 45-66 years 125 776 154 552 22.9%
03 Oslo 67-79 years 37 239 52 786 41.7%
03 Oslo 80 years or more 24 556 19 792 -19.4%
04 Hedmark 188 376 194 967 3.5%
04 Hedmark 0-5 years 12 251 11 837 -3.4%
04 Hedmark 6-12 years 16 493 14 539 -11.8%
04 Hedmark 13-15 years 7 531 6 721 -10.8%
04 Hedmark 16-19 years 8 988 9 199 2.3%
04 Hedmark 20-44 years 57 632 55 457 -3.8%
04 Hedmark 45-66 years 54 505 59 637 9.4%
04 Hedmark 67-79 years 20 100 27 520 36.9%
04 Hedmark 80 years or more 10 876 10 057 -7.5%

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
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Annex 5.1

Figure 5.1: Alternative lines to Bergen

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
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Annex 5.2

Figure 5.2: Alternative lines to Trondheim

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 Feasibility Study Concerning
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Annex 5.3

Figure 5.3: Possible line to Halden / Gøteborg

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