Should we pass the 4th birthday without any follow-up to the Northern Norway Railway?
On April 20 this year, it is four years since the Storting adopted the following: « The Storting asks the government to initiate work on realizing the Northern Norway Rail. » Behind the decision were the current government party, the Labor Party, and the government’s two parliamentary support parties, the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party.
In addition, the Progress Party, the Green Party and Red, voted for this. After that, little has happened. Should we pass the 4th day without any follow-up of the decision to realize the Northern Norway Railway?
The arguments are almost in line to start the construction of the railway north towards Troms. In Indre Troms, the Armed Forces have its most important facilities with a great need for the transport of heavy material. As the defense itself has said: “There is nothing that competes with railroads for emergency preparedness. Should we prioritize in the short term, a railway from Narvik to Bardufoss is incredibly important. ” This has become more important with the new geopolitical situation (keywords: Putin and Trump) and the increased defense initiative in the north. From now on, the need for rapid environmentally friendly transport of all kinds of non-military goods has been good reason for building the Northern Norway Line.
If a railway route is chosen north from Bjørnfjell, an expensive crossing of the Rombaksfjord will be avoided that has been included in previous calculations. A new railway terminal in the Bardufoss area will also relieve Narvik.
We are just in the introduction to an election campaign to the Storting. Has the Storting assumed how vulnerable the northern region is security policy, business policy and in terms of development in settlement? Can Norway afford to lose such a resourceful part of the country? If the Storting does not make a binding decision on the start of the Northern Norway railway this year, we and many others will see this as a political breach.
