Quoting arn777 (Reply 58):
Again, KiwiRov, check you facts before posting left, right and center. And what is it with your constant complaints and bitching about Norway..
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What bitching, all high speed rail in Norway is a fantasy and not needed, the air network is more than good enough, it's cheap, super efficient and doesn't require massive subsidies like any high speed rail network would. The other other point ius Norway has a small population spread out across a largish country, air is the best solution, rail is not. The very idea of a single track highspeed rail network which will also be shared with freight (apart from French Post TGV's is there any other highspeed freight trains operating anywhere?) it's madness, no country has built single track high speed rail, Norway is looking at this because they know the traffic isn't there to support the capacity double track would give them.
Read the Jernbaneverket report
http://www.jernbaneverket.no/PageFil...35/Phase_1_chapter_4-_1620902a.pdf the opening paragraph talks about the lack of demand, the conclusion also backs this up.
And the environmental report, which can be found here,
http://www.misa.no/uk/news/the_high_speed_rail_study_is_released_/ read page 64, 60 plus years payback time for most lines, and that assumption is based on people transferring from air to rail, the lines they want to build will miss so many population centres that most people will still fly. The town I live in had 10 return flights per day to
OSL, it's 1.5 hours drive from the nearest railway station, that station isn't anywhere near any planned high speed rail corridor.
I'm not knocking Norway at all here, I think the people controlling the purse strings realise high speed rail here is going to cost a lot with very little benefit or return.
