Labor Party Secures Northern Norway Railway Majority
The night train has arrived in Bodø after its 728 kilometers’ long journey from Trondheim. The Northern Norway Railway is a proposed prolonging of the railway from Fauske to Tromsø, with a side track to Harstad. (Photo: Njål Svingheim)
The Norwegian parliament Stortinget yesterday adopted a proposal that the government initiate the process of realizing the North Norway Railway line.
In relation to Stortinget’s processing of the High North whitepaper Tuesday, a majority adopted an opposition proposal requesting the government to start working on realizing the Northern Norway Railway line.
The proposal was put forward by the Progress Party, the Center Party and the Socialist Left party. The Labor party secured a majority for the proposal, which was approved with 56 votes in favor and 30 votes against.
Cecilie Myrseth of the Labor party argued on a radio show Tuesday morning that Labor would vote in favor of both proposals that were up for processing in Stortinget. During last weekend’s national assembly, the Labor party proposed conducting a concept selection study for the Northern Norway Railway line so that the construction of a northern railway may be evaluated at the next revision of the National Transportation Plan.
“There should be no doubt that we aim to realize the Northern Norway Railway, which is why we vote in favor of both proposals. However, it is obvious that no one will be ready to lay down the tracks tomorrow already”, Myrseth said.
She added that questions such as where the route should go, what the price should be, how it should be built and when it should be built are issues the project has to go through on par with other public transportation projects.
This article will be updated.
This article was originally published in Norwegian and has been translated by HNN's Elisabeth Bergquist.